London at Christmas: Part 1

Good morning!

On Monday I went to London with my mum for a bit of Christmas shopping and soaking up the festive spirit; I mean where else would you go in the UK for the ultimate window displays and Christmas lights!

We had an amazing time eating and drinking and wandering around many department stores, I ached for 2 days afterwards from the amount of walking and the carrying of shopping!

I actually took so many photos that I've ended up having to separate them into two posts. The window displays and lights were so gorgeous that I had to take more photos and it would be a shame not to show them all!

We managed to get to Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods and Covent Garden all within a day which was a pretty great achievement considering we walked the majority of the distances. This post will be about Liberty and Selfridges as we visited those first.

I don't think the front of the Liberty store needs any introduction; it's a gorgeous Tudor style building in the centre of London amidst boring concrete blocks and its such a surprise walking around the corner to find it.

I love the details like the soldiers at the doors to the chocolate shop; you don't get that anywhere else!

In the centre of the store is the infamous hall where there is currently a Matilda display. I have had the pleasure of going to the show of Matilda and it was amazing; seeing this display taken from the show was a lovely reminder of how amazing it was, it's one of my favourite films.

There were tonnes of products in Liberty that I could have snapped up. One of my favourite things in all the world are books. When I saw these books lined up on a stand I couldn't help but take a photo. It's my aim in life to have a huge book case full of leather books and I have a large amount already hidden in a wardrobe waiting for me to move out. The Alice in Wonderland book I've seen many times online but I didn't realise you could actually buy it still!
I've added it to my Christmas list as they'd sold out in store and hopefully my mum will get it for me!

I did pick up a few chocolate bits from the chocolate store for presents and also a sneaky present for myself which I'm sure will be in a future post! I couldn't resist buying something as the bags are beautiful and free in England!

Selfridges was the next stop and we wandered there from Liberty stopping off in many shops along the way including Boots and Forever 21 where I was really naughty and spent money that I shouldn't have!

I couldn't help but take a photo of the sign; it is also iconic after the tv program Mr Selfridge.

Their window displays were amazing, all snow scenes with different objects that you can buy in store. My personal favourite was the snow globe with the Selfridges store inside, it's absolutely beautiful! Though for a window display I do think that maybe there should have been some fake snow flowing around the globe for better effect!

The window displays were out of this world, the YSL clutch bag tassle actually did swing as if someone was carrying it. 

I love how the swans were carrying bags on their backs like it was a normal thing to do!

I also couldn't believe that the Kitty Slippers ears actually wiggled!

All the displays were amazing and it took some fighting to get to the front of each window and take a decent photo! Lots of people obviously have the same idea.

For lunch we went to the food hall in Selfridges and had a house salad and a pot of tea:

It was the BEST house salad I've ever eaten and was worth every penny. After choosing what I wanted they take it into a metal bowl and mix it up with your chosen dressing and pour it back into your bowl.

It was so filling and the taste was out of this world that I devoured it and didn't need anything else at lunch which is a big surprise for me ha.

Have you been to Liberty or Selfridges yet this Christmas? Will you be going?

Have you tried any food at Selfridges lunch hall? What would you recommend for my next meal there? I found it so hard to choose!

L xxx

Selfridge's Beauty Box winner!

After 2 weeks of entries we can finally announce the winner of the Selfridge's Beauty Box giveaway was Lola from Lola in the Lounge!

Congratulations Lola, I hope you enjoy the skincare products they're such a treat!

We'll be contacting you on twitter today (if we haven't already!) to get your details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone who entered.

We'll be having another giveaway soon featuring some products hard to get your hands on in the UK, so look out for it soon!

L and M xxx

Selfridge's Box Part 1

I'm sure you're probably sick to death of hearing about the Selfridge's Beauty Box, especially if you didn't get one so apologies for that.

But we are doing a giveaway for one (woohoo!) and so we decided to do a more in depth post on our halves with mine being up today and M's being put up next Sunday.

I was super excited to try out the Stila One Step Correct Serum, the Philip B Katira hair mask and the Antipodes Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil so that's what i chose from the box and M will be covering the other three items next week.

(We split a box between us, you can find more details on the giveaway page here)

First up is the Antipodes Organic Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil all the way from New Zealand.

Antipodes are a brand that I'm really interested in because their skin care range uses only bioactive botanical ingredients, many of which are organic, and also have a strong ethical value.

Also I love that they have loads of scientific information on their website, I've fallen in love with a brand again!

The website states:

Scientifically shown to stimulate Type I collagen in human skin fibroblast cells by up to 51%*.

Give a lift to tired, stressed and sun-damaged skin with this nutrient-rich, certified organic face oil that helps to deliver essential nourishment for fresh, healthy skin. The superior collagen boosting action of avocado oil helps reduce the appearance of lines and age spots, while added rosehip helps avocado oil target scars and wrinkles.

Interesting!

Also how much do you love the bottle??

I love old style medicine bottles including these dropper style ones.

I mean obviously you'd have to use this for a few weeks to notice a big change and to give it time to work its magic....but I've been struggling big time with my skin recently.

I've been breaking out left right and centre and every spot seems to leave a really bright red scar that doesn't heal. Initially I was worried about using an oil on my face as my skin has always had issues with oil.

It's early days as I've only been using it since Wednesday but I am 100% sure that the scars have started fading which was not happening at all before.

I'm hoping over the next few weeks it will improve even more and hopefully will turn into the wonder product I've been waiting for!

I've tried every other product you can think of so here's hoping.

Next up is the Philip B Katira Hair Mask which I used this morning.

I've also been having a few issues with my hair being very dry considering I don't heat style it and have been taking good care of it.

First off I love the packaging as I love simple and anything talking about 'Magic' sounds good to me!

The website states:

PRODUCT DETAILS

A gentle yet surprisingly versatile rejuvenator for all hair types.

The unique, clear-gel formula sinks right in to plump up fine, limp strands or calm and smooth coarse, hard-to-manage hair.

HOW IT WORKS:

Pure Katira Extract – the "it" conditioner of the Middle East – fills in weak, damaged spots in the hair cuticle for added smoothness and strength. It also gives your hair a slight electrical charge – you’ll feel it during your blowout – that leaves it fantastically light and bouncy.

A high-tech L-Amino Acid Complex infuses your hair with a perfect dose of weightless, oil-free moisture and nourishing proteins for enhanced control and elasticity. Just one application will instantly revitalize your hair color, speed up blow-drying time, and lock in shine for a sexy, touchable, red-carpet finish.

It's also paraben and pthalate free (woo!)

I quite liked the consistency of this but it was quite thick and I can imagine needing a lot of it.

It says on the back about mixing it in with their conditioner, so I mixed it in with my current conditioner and applied it, leaving it for as long as I could (probably around 5/10 minutes).

My hair definitely feels in better condition though I can't agree that it took less drying time as I didn't feel there was any difference.

I was impressed to see that my hair doesn't feel heavy at all however so I will definitely be using this a few times this week with the hope of improving the condition over time but so far it's doing the job!

Last but definitely not least is the Stila One Step Color Correct Serum.

I didn't own any Stila products until a few conveniently found there way into poundland!

But I have ALWAYS lusted after this product.

Everyone can see how cool it looks but for me, being obsessed with science as I'm a complete geek this is the ultimate in make up.

It looks like a beautiful DNA helix or something which is just amazing (I'm going to stop waffling on don't worry!)

This is all written on the box but straight from their website:

The revolutionary new product contains 3 colour-correcting brighteners: 

• Green tone instantly neutralizes redness and conceals blemishes 
• Lavender tone counteracts sallow undertones for a vibrant, energised look 
• Peach tone brightens, illuminates and helps diminish the appearance of sun spots

Sooooo pretty!

Here's a few hand shots, not the most convenient but I don't have a working tripod or someone to take photos of my face where I don't look a bit silly! Plus my skin is awful!

The left is before, and on the right you can see how all three colours come out in each pump (the peach is slightly hidden underneath)

Then on the left the colour blend together SO easily and pretty much melt into your skin leaving a really nice finish, not shiny at all but the area looks really moisturised and even.

I can't wait until my skin is better and I can just apply this to my skin as I can imagine it looking great and makes everything so much easier in the mornings!

What do you think of the products? My current favourite has to be the Antipodes face oil, as it's a god send if it continues to get rid of my scars as nothing else I've tried has worked.

However I can imagine the Stila taking over if my skin clears up :)

If you would like to win these products and the other 3 also in the box, you can enter the giveaway here.

It's always worth a try and you can tweet each day for more entries!

L xxx

*CLOSED* Selfridge's Beauty Box....Giveaway!!

Good morning ladies!

I hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend as much as me!

As most of you will know, Selfridge's are opening up a new beauty hall which is in fact THREE times bigger than it was previously.

This is the kind of news dreams are made of!

When they announced that to celebrate this, they were creating their own version of the infamous beauty boxes making the rounds of the blogosphere this was quite frankly the highlight of my year!

Having seen a few bloggers post about the contents I drooled for a little while and then hastily signed up, and text M to hurry up and do it too!

When the time came we obviously missed the original 50/100 boxes that were snapped up before 7am because we completely forgot (i.e. I was asleep!)

However we were both ON FIRE when the second lot (around 125 more) of them came out and managed to snap up one each and were massively excited.

We'd been thinking about doing a giveaway for a while having hit another milestone in our views and generally just to thank anyone who reads our blog and interacts with us on twitter as we have really enjoyed writing it over the past few months.

We met up one evening in the past few days and were discussing the contents to find that actually we could split a box between us as there were certain products we wanted more than others.....and being conscious of the massive back log of products we both have to get through we decided to share. (see Beauty Rehab here!)

Which basically leads me to say that against all of our beauty hoarding tendencies (it almost breaks me into a sweat thinking about it!) we now have a brand new, fully stocked Selfridge's box TO GIVE AWAY.

Yes.

To. Give. Away. (!!!)

So, if you missed out when furiously refreshing your page or didn't get your details online in time then this is your chance to get your hands on one of the 200(ish) boxes.

Firstly, here's a reminder of the box and the products that you could win:

A little slice of heaven!

Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask and Aesop Parsley Seed Anti-oxidant Serum

Estelle and Thild Lip Balm and Bioeffect EGF Serum (EGF-Epidermal Growth Factor)

Philip B Katira Hair Mask and the booklet that explains all of the brands and products, as well as details on the new beauty hall

Stila One Step Correct serum and Antipodes Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil

Drool worthy aren't they???

What we love most is that they're from all over the world (incl. New Zealand, Budapest, Hungary and Sweden) and many contain natural and organic products, something that we are both very conscious of, and so this is the perfect give away for us.

So, onto the small print:

The winner will be drawn by rafflecopter so it is randomised.

The giveaway is open only to people in the UK. 

The winner will be contacted within 48 hours of the end of the giveaway, if there is no response after 1 week another winner will be generated. (remember to leave all your details!)

Following via GFC and on twitter, as well as leaving a comment and supplying your email address are mandatory but all others are optional. 

If you do enter, all options will be checked so be warned ;)

Good luck!

L and M xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(please note that the time for the giveaway is in EST as I couldn't change it, meaning it is set to 5 hours behind UK time)