Sanctuary brightening facial radiance exfoliator review

One of my New Years resolutions was to indulge more in me-time, just doing the little things that I just don't seem to have the time to do anymore like doing a manicure with my favourite nail polish or baking a tray of cookies.

I was in boots this weekend and spotted the mini sanctuary radiance exfoliators were reduced to 20p as the packaging has been updated each AND they were on three for two! Although I have no shortage of beauty products I don't have much in the way of facial products and given the bargain price I didn't feel the need to justify buying three new exfoliators (and let's not forget they are miniature after all!)

So after a long lie in this morning, I indulged my resolution with an at home facial using my new exfoliator. This is what I could expect according to the sanctuary website:

ultra-fine apricot granules and grape seed exfoliate and refine, while a trio of pumpkin, pineapple and papaya extracts work naturally to help increase cell renewal. Skin is left feeling smooth and glowing with radiance.

I really liked this exfoliator, it was fairly thick and had a decent amount of granules without being too harsh on my skin. It left my face feeling deep cleansed, fresh and smooth and it has a lovely light scent. I have sensitive skin on my face and I can't use a lot of facial products but this was perfect for my skin. 

According to the website it can be used 2-3 times a week but I think I will stick to using it once a week as part of my Sunday facial routine. I would definitely recommend this product and you can try the miniature size which is sold in Boots to see if it suits you before paying out for the full size version.

Boots 70% sale haul

Last Wednesday marked the annual boots 70% sale. I was determined not to buy too much this year as I'm on a mission to use up my stash of toiletries and I think I succeeded. Unfortunately the atmosphere was not very nice this year, a lot of pushing and shoving so we didn't hang about and were done in twenty minutes. Here's what I got:

Sanctuary hat box - £13.50 from £45

Sanctuary little bag of joy - £3.00 from £10

Glass vase - £3.60 from £12

Glass candle - £2.40 from £8

Champneys bear - £4.50 from £15

No7 glamour cracker - £2.40 from £8

Sanctuary facial box - £6 from £20

Mary Berry cake forks - £4.20 from £14

Cadbury snow bites £0.30 from £1 (these didn't last long enough to feature in the photo!)

Valentine's Day 2014 Gift Ideas!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the shops are filling up with pretty gifts and gorgeous floral bouquets that any lucky lady would be thrilled to receive.

Here's what would be on the top of my wishlist (other than being whisked away to the Bahamas for a week or two!)

1. Limited Edition "With Love" Gift Set by Sanctuary Spa, £22

2. Valentina EDP 30ml, £39.50

3. Silver Heart Pendant, £40

4. Rosé Bubbles & Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles, £25

5. Rose Gift Bag, £25

6. Rose Pillar Candle, £11.20

What would be your perfect Valentine's gift?

Boots 70% Sale Haul including Sanctuary, Soap & Glory, No7 and Champneys

Last Wednesday I headed out bright and early before work to take part in the legendary boots 70% sale where all of their unsold Christmas gifts get discounted! I've been every year for about 6 years and manage to stay stocked up of my favourite beauty products at a fraction of their usual retail price. In previous years the sale was 75% off but still who can pass up 70 % off Brands like soap & glory and sanctuary which never have more than 1/3 off! Clearly It wasn't just me who thought this as by the time I arrived at the store shortly after it opened there were already crowds of people with huge ikea-sized bags full of gift sets! I was lucky that there was at least one of each product I'd wanted following my trip in my lunch break the day before and was done with my little haul in 20 minutes. My mum had also headed out early and between us we got quite a stash! 

The products above are just my part of the haul and two gifts! I've been told by my boyfriend, who had the day off work and was asked to accompany my mum, that he'd never seen her move so fast as she dashed around the store haha! I don't think we bought an excessive amount though I would imagine it should last us a year or so (until the next sale!) and many of the items I would buy full price if I had to anyway, so it makes sense to take advantage of such a bargain! 

So, here are some of my favourite things a bit closer up:

This sanctuary Mande Lular set was reduced from £18 to £5.40 and contains a 500ml bath Creme, travel sized body polish, body soufflé and a body brush. The bath Creme alone retails at £10 and I love sanctuary products, they're not tested on animals and are paraben free. 

This No7 set contains treats for pretty hands and toes! This was reduced from £20 to £6. It was definitely the glitter varnish that drew me to this set, I'm a magpie for glitter varnishes and sequinned cardis! ( I have three grey sequinned cardis that are all very similar....how many becomes too many?!) The colours in this set are great for winter so I might put this set up until then, but the sensible part of me thinks I should return it as I have glitter nail varnish, hand cream and foot cream aplenty....

I've needed a new blusher for a while and although I've seen some gorgeous palettes in the new ss14 make up collections they're all pretty expensive, perhaps one for a birthday wish list. The soap & glory powder trio was reduced from £20 to £6 and each powder retails for £10 or £11 each so that's a huge saving. My only complaint is that they are fixed in the palette so you can't pop it in your make up bag (perhaps the perfect excuse to indulge in one of those aforementioned palettes?!) my other s & g purchase was the face time set which contains a range of skin-care products. This was £7.50 from £25 but I think I might return it as I'm not sure I really need it. 

I probably don't need more nail varnishes but the colours in this Champneys set caught my eye. The sparkly grey is great for evenings and the blue and pink match the colours in all the shops so I think they'll be very en-trend for spring. They were reduced from £12 to £3.60 so at 60 p a varnish you can't go wrong! The little pink box is full of travel sized miniatures which are ideal for taking on holiday. This was also reduced from £12 to £3.60.

I was initially a little sceptical about this bronzer as I don't usually have the right complexion for it, but it's actually very subtle and gives more of a warm glow than a bronzed look, and it's so pretty which may have swayed my decision a bit! This was reduced from £16 to £4.80.

My mum picked up these miniature perfumes for me for £4.50 from £15 and they're handy to pop in your handbag.

I forgot to add these two goodies to my haul above too. The cupcake book is by Rosie's Pantry and has some delicious recipes including banoffee cupcakes and rose water cupcakes. This was reduced from £6.50 to £1.95. The cocoa butter set I originally glanced over, it sounded nice but I knew my mum had already got me the sanctuary treats so I resisted! That evening by chance I came across a beauty blog which raved about this exact kit, so back I trundled the next day in my lunch break in the hope of finding some left. I was in luck and picked up two sets and I can't wait to try it out. I like cocoa butter and sugar scrubs so I have high hopes for this. It was a bargain at £3 from £10.

And finally, I bought the above Champneys bag for my mum. I forgot to add it to the main photo above but it contains three full sized products and three travel sized ones. This was reduced from £50 to £15. And that's all from my mammoth boots haul, phew!

Sanctuary Dreamtime Sleep-in-a-box Kit Review

Just before I went on holiday I mentioned my bargain Boots haul, which included the Sanctuary Dreamtime Sleep-in-a-box kit. I've used it a few times now so thought I'd post a quick review about the set.

The set contains 4 travel sized products; soothing bath float, smoothing silk scrub, 4in1 restoring body elixir and comforting night butter. I haven't used the body elixir yet as you can only use it once, so I'm keeping it for when I have time for a long soak, but the other products have been tested a few times now.

The first thing you notice about the Sleep range is the lovely, calming scent; it manages to be subtle whilst still having a relaxing effect. I would describe the fragrance as a creamy almond and lightly floral scent. The soothing bath float has a slight shimmer and produces a fair amount of bubbles, leaving the water soft and scented.
The smoothing silk scrub is a very lightweight scrub, it doesn't have much "scrub" in it so isn't suitable for proper exfoliating, but that makes sense for a kit which is meant to help you unwind and make you sleepy. It does however leave you skin silky soft, and the gentle scrub is relaxing.
The comforting body butter is the final step to dreamtime, and complements the other products perfectly. It's  luxuriously thick, absorbs quickly, and leaves the lovely scent on your skin.

I really like this kit and it did help send me off to a relaxed slumber, so I would purchase it again, although probably the kit (which retails for £12.50), rather than the full sized products which are about £10 each. I think this will be one for my Christmas wish list this year!

Boots No 7, Sanctuary and Champneys Bargain Beauty Haul!

I called in to Boots yesterday and as I was passing through I noticed lots of big reductions on their luxury brands including Sanctuary, Soap & Glory, Champneys, Burts Bees and National Trust, some with 75% off. I am quite keen on Sanctuary (their products are paraben free too which is a plus) so I was pleased to spot a few items on sale (two of which I had already had my eye on, but didn't buy as my beauty box is already quite full following a successful visit to the Boots Christmas sale in January!) And it is the perfect chance to try new Sanctuary products that I otherwise wouldn't have; whilst I don't mind paying a premium for products that I know work and are reliable, with limited money in my account for non-essential purchases I'm not keen to spend over £10 on one product without knowing it won't be tried once and then stuck in the back of the cupboard.
So, on to the small haul I picked up!

The first thing I picked up was the Sanctuary "Dream time sleep in-a-box" which contains everything you need to send you off to a relaxing sleep. I can't wait to try this out later, it has a soothing bath float, 4 in 1 body elixir, smoothing silk scrub and comforting night butter. This had 1/3 off and was reduced to £8.38. I also spotted a box of skin conditioning oils, (which I'd also wanted to try before), and you can either use these as an intensive moisturiser on your skin or add to a bath to leave your skin soft and smooth. I'm a big fan of hair oil treatments so I'm hoping that these will work just as well! These were down to £2.30-ish from about £10. The third product I bought was a micro-dermabrasion body renewal scrub. I hadn't actually seen this before but I'm really keen to give it a go as I have an uneven skin tone and according to the scrub 9 out of 10 women noticed a visible difference to the appearance of their skin...so this has high expectations to live up to! This was also about £2.40-ish from about £10. Boots is also running a promotion where if you spend £10 on sanctuary you get a free creme souffle worth £11, so obviously I added this to my basket too! I've tried this out already and I really wasn't expecting much as I have quite a lot of moisturiser that I need to use up and didn't think it would be particularly different, but I soon changed my opinion. It is so rich it absorbs very well and quickly unlike some body lotions which seem to take ages to absorb, and it leaves skin feeling soft, supple and smooth and with a lovely fragrance.

Just when I thought I was done with my sanctuary haul I spotted the Champneys hand scrubs (far left in the picture) which were down to £1.50 and buy-one-get-one half price. I picked up two as I used to have a Sanctuary hand scrub which was lovely so I thought I'd give this a go. And even better I had enough points on my Boots card to pay, so effectively my bag full of goodies didn't cost me anything! There were also plenty of bargains to be had on the Soap & Glory shelves, Burt's Bees and National Trust aisles (including gift sets which would be good for birthdays or Christmas if you want to prepare early!), so if you're passing by it might be worth calling in and seeing what bargains you can spot!

As you can see in the picture I also picked up a couple of bargain No7 products. I'll keep it brief but currently boots are giving out vouchers at their self-service tills for £8 off a purchase of both No7 skin care and make up, and I already had a £5 off skin-care and £3 off make-up voucher from a till from my last trip to Boots, so I purchased a No7 BB cream (which is £13) and No7 eye illuminator pen (also £13) and was able to use all of my vouchers which gave £16 off, and as make up is on buy one get one half price this just left a few pounds to pay. I also used my mums vouchers to get her a BB cream and top coat nail varnish. I think that the reason all of the vouchers work and you still get the buy one get one half price promotion at the till is because BB cream is classed as both skincare and make-up, so if you want to purchase a few items yourself you'd need something in both categories like the BB cream or Bronzing pearls/palettes.

Now I just have to fit it all in my beauty box....!

Skincare Essentials ♥

The wintery weather is doing its best to take its toll on my skin, but I'm lucky to have a box full of lovely skincare treats which are helping keep it in good condition. I've picked out my favourite trusted skincare treats below which I love using for a pampering afternoon and can rely on for a quick-fix.

Lush Tea Tree Toner Tabs
I became a fan of these a while back and now always make sure I have a couple of tabs on standby in my beauty box. They contain tea tree and aloe vera to calm and soothe problem skin. They're simple and easy to use, you just put them in a bowl of hot water and steam your face for 5-10minutes (the longer the better I find) and then cleanse and moisturize afterwards. Immediately after steaming my skin feels refreshed and deep-cleansed but I always use mine the day before an event or day out because that's when I really notice the difference and have visibly calmer and softer skin and a more even skin tone.
 

Soap & Glory 'The Breakfast Scrub'
This is one of my all-time favourite exfoliating scrubs. It contains almond, honey and banana extracts along with oat, sugar and shea butter, and has a good-enough-to-eat maple fragrance. The sugar and oats provide a really good exfoliating base without being too abrasive and the shea butter means its moisturizing too. It leaves my skin feeling very soft and smooth and I'll definitely be replacing it when I run out.

The Sanctuary Hand Cream and Intensive Rescue Heel Balm
With almond oil and shea butter the hand cream is a lightweight, quickly absorbed lotion which leaves your hands soft and smelling sweet. It's great to apply on-the-go as it isn't too rich and helps stop my hands from getting to dry in this harsh weather.  The Heel Balm is one of my favourite beauty products and the best foot moisturiser I think I've ever come across. I use this after a bath and then put on a pair of fluffy socks for the evening and by the time I go to bed the lotion has worked it's magic. I've recently bought a replacement (although the first one lasted nearly a year) and yet every time I'm surprised at how soft my feet are after using this!