BEAUTY OVERHAUL

Before my trip to Paris, I did a big beauty overhaul in terms of buying in bulk many of the products I had run out of and never replaced making do with half empty jars of product that had been lounging around on my dressing table for longer than I cared to remember. We’ve all had these types of products, beauty mistakes I call them, you’re not fond of them, they just gather dust on the dressing table however, they came in useful when I was running out of my much-loved Guerlain skincare. Let me tell you, I spent a small fortune buying everything and I vowed I would never let myself get into this position again.  I’ll be honest though, it felt good spending a day buying beauty products! It’s one of my favourite shopping experiences preferring it to clothes shopping, I’m what’s called a beauty junkie.

My beauty overhaul consisted of Guerlain, THAT perfume I discussed in my Selfridgesoysterspost which was a real splurge as the house of Maison Francis Kurkdjians’ perfumes are somewhere in the region of £190 a bottle – an eye-watering amount but I have loved their BaccaratRouge540 for an eternity stopping by their counter every time I’m in Selfridges or Harrods.

I also bought their matching body crème, I figured since my adored Balenciaga Paris discontinued their matching body crème, I would have to look for another signature perfume. Baccarat Rouge 540 is the most delicious lingering and seductive oriental floral perfume with notes of jasmine, saffron, cedar wood and amber gris which is just perfect for an evening out, try it next time you’re in London and I promise, you’ll be hooked and mesmerised by it.

 

When I go out in the evening, I like my perfume to have a corresponding body crème because not only does the perfume last longer, it’s an altogether more luxurious and special experience getting ready for a night out when you have a specific luxury beauty ritual consisting of gorgeous beauty products to envelope yourself in. I also bought some products from Malee you may remember I was invited to a Maleepopup in Canary Wharf in February to try their products which I loved so I bought a couple of body products from their range, a fast absorbing nourishing skin oil and a sugar type conditioning  body scrub. I also bought a couple of niche products targeting specific needs, make up which I’d run out of and the best tinted crème you’ll ever use from CrèmedelaMer, it’s one of my favourite luxury beauty brands.

I also bought some make up I had run out of from Dior, a lip liner in the iconic 999 and black eye khol pencil from Guerlain which is creamy and soft enough to smudge.  Both products come with their own sharpeners.

Starting with Guerlain, I bought my favourite AbeilleRoyale skincare range, so this was jars of their day, night and eye creams Crème Jour Riche, Crème Nuit and Crème Yeux, ultra-glam golden jars of their luxurious honey infused range plus a bottle of their silky repair serum.

Two new products I’ve never tried before in the Abeille Royale range are Black Bee Honey Balm and Repairing Honey Gel Mask. I decided to invest in these after hearing how fantastic they are, it really doesn’t take long for me to be convinced! The balm is a wonderful universal product which repairs and nourishes and can be used to heal burns even sunburn, blemishes and imperfections, extra dry skin patches, it’s generally a fantastic all-round product. Guerlain’s lovely assistant showed me a burn she had suffered from ironing, she immediately applied the balm to the burn over a period of a few days, the burn had healed so well, there was hardly a trace of blemish or scarring, it’s a wonder product we should all have in our cupboards, I’d liken it to the multi-award-winning cult product from Elizabeth Arden, 8-hour cream.

The honey mask is a super hydrating boost for the face leaving it plumped up, smooth and nourished, its quite expensive so I only use it before I go out in the evening. The wonderful thing about this mask is that after leaving it on for 10 minutes, any excess is just massaged into the skin so it’s extremely hydrating.  If I don’t have a facial before I go somewhere special or a weekend away, I usually do a deep cleansing facial at home the night before and then a couple of hours before my night out, I apply the honey gel mask and let it sink deep into my skin allowing the special honey properties of the black bee to work its magic.

My niche products were Dior Capture Totale Dream Skin, DermalogicaDailyMicrofoliant and RenReadySteadyGlow which contains natural fruit acids to wipe away dead skin cells to reveal revitalised glowing skin, this is gentle enough to use morning and night. Dream Skin is an amazing product I’ve been wanting to buy for a long time, it’s a primer, a luminisor and radiance booster and all-round wonder product.

I think it replaced a primer-type radiance product that Dior used to do a few years back which came with a brush applicator. I loved it, so I was quite sad when it was discontinued. DreamSkin however is 10 times better and now comes as Dream Skin Advanced and more products in the range such as a 1-minute mask, Perfect Skin Cushion, a tinted cream in sponge format. The 1-minute mask is another fantastic product to use just before going out.

Dermalogica’s Daily Microfoliant is a natural daily exfoliator, its so gentle, you just put half a teaspoon size of powder in the palm of your wet hand an apply using circular motions on a wet face.  It leaves the skin gently exfoliated and soft ready for your serum and cream which is absorbed so effortlessly because skin has been prepped using the exfoliator and Ren Ready Steady Glow.

Who doesn’t love Miscelier water? It’s just a fantastic easy product to use to remove debris and make up, even eye make-up and especially useful if you’re a little bit tired in the evening and don’t want to fill your basin with water and do a full cleanse, particularly useful after a night out! It’s also great to use during the day to refresh if you haven’t got any make up but you feel a bit greasy, I find LancomeEauMicellaireDouceur very affordable. There are so many other products I’d like to try for example there are some fantastic masks out there and products targeting specific skin needs, you can spend an absolute fortune on beauty products! If you’re a beauty junkie like me, you’ll love SpaceNK, it’s an Aladdin’s Cave full of gorgeous niche beauty products, there are several dotted around London, I usually go to the one in South Molton Street. So, there you have it, a massive beauty overhaul which has replenished my dwindling beauty supplies with some fantastic favourite products and it was a real joy to buy.

 

Later on, I’ll be doing a post all about my favourite holiday and beach products some of which are Estee Lauder’s iconic Bronze Goddess range which I’m taking with me on my summer holiday in August, watch this space. Let me know what your favourite beauty brands are by commenting below.

I’ve tagged these products which will give you more detailed information. All these products can be bought at either JohnLewis,  Selfridges, Harrods and other department stores.

All photos and opinions are my own.