For the love of Guerlain

Hi and hope everyone had a fantastic New Year - ours was really quiet - Monopoly and watching the Dubai attempt at the Firework World Record was about as exciting as it got.  New Years resolution for 2014 is to go somewhere fabulous for NYE!!

Anyway I wanted to blog about a couple of freebies which I got!  My lovely husband got me some Le Petit Robe Noir for Christmas - now I love Guerlain, especially their scents, Shalimar and Mitsuko (which can be really hard to find here in the ME) - so was really happy when he rather unceremoniously handed me the free samples he got along with the purchase!!

I have Les Meteorites both in the tin and in the compact in my must haves for every day - but Guerlain is a brand which mostly I buy at Duty Free as a real treat as, lets face it, its not cheap.  Anyway I was really happy to have the following two products to try!

Firstly L'OR a make up primer with flecks of 24 carat gold (how much more Abu Dhabi can you get!!)

Gorgous looking!!

As you can see it immediately looks very decedent and the sample size is quite good, given that  a full bottle is 30ml.  I loved the silky feel of the base and actually you don't need too much to cover your whole face and neck (which I always do as I have the beginnings of a goose neck! LOL).  Mind you, I could not immediately see any golden shimmers which is what I thought I might get - but actually the gold is not supposed to show..... its rather a luxury ingredient.  The description on the Guerlain website is rather more 'enticing' :

 "Gold is the most precious of all metals. Pure, it reflects light in an extraordinary way. Guerlain reinterprets exceptional know-how in a magical formula: an embellishing make-up base sprinkled with pure 24-carat gold flakes. Like the most luxurious jewellery pieces, the precious flakes were crafted into ultra-sparkling and ultra-reflective particles, then dispersed in a hydrating smoothing gel. The reflection of warm metal, the coolness of ice: opposites attract in this essence glimmering with pure gold."

Well for me its a lovely product and makes my skin feel luxurious - but is it better than say Laura Mercier or Bare Essentials primers that I use?  Probably not - I will use it until its gone, but I am not sure I would buy it for myself at AED260.78 on Essential Mall

On the other hand the lipstick sample I got was absolutely fantastic!

Just look at this cute little sample!

Firstly the sample itself is cute as a button - its not in the 'Automatique' casing but as you can see, a teeny tiny 1.4g little case.  The colour I got is part of the Les Roses collection and this one is number 165 'Champs Elyses'.  The colour did not come out too well on the photo but its a lovely dark rose colour (as you can see on my lips below).  But more than the colour, the texture is absolutely lovely, just like smearing butter on your lips - really hydrating.  The staying power is good too - I went out to lunch wearing it and still had a little left at the end.  I would probably buy this one - Cost is around AED140 which is not cheap, but I think the colour could see me all the way through the spring.

So all in all I was pleased with my free samples this week - also came with a cute make up bag in pink and black.

Well that's all for now folks - would love to hear about your latest free sample trials!

Louise
xx

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Marlene Dietrich for today..........love the blue/grey eyeshadow and the liner.

Welcome to my new Blog!

Over here I will be reviewing, loving, desiring and sharing with you lots of lovely stylish stuff - but with a twist - I am a mature woman who has never grown out of her love of beauty products!!  Ok so perhaps there will not be as much of the glittery eyeliner as my 17 year old daughter likes but there is still plenty of fun left for those of us who are significantly over 40!  Anyway less of the intro - lets get on to the important stuff!!

So for my first blog post  I am going to talk about my Glambox!  I have looked longingly at the Birchbox which is so popular in the UK - and did not realise that we had one right on my Abu Dhabi doorstep! So I went ahead and subscribed for 6 months and the first one arrived just a few minutes before I left work for the Christmas holidays!

The Box arrives!!!

The Goodies Emerge

First things to catch my eye were two products from Eucerin - I am a big fan of Sally Hughes and she has talked a lot about Eucerin in the past so I was really excited to be able to try a could of the products.

Firstly there was the lip balm, which was lovely and soft and leaves the lips feeling really moisturised.  Now I have had loads of lip balms in the past and I don't generally have problems with dry lips (even though I have dry skin).  This reminded me of Babylips by Maybelline, in that it has a similar sort of texture.  My daughter on the other hand uses it all the time and it was only 5 minutes before this made it into her makeup bag and she loves it.

I was however really excited to try the eye cream - Aquaporin Active - and I have to say that I love it.  For a start the size of the container is really good for a beauty box - I would guess its full size.  Secondly, it feels really light and absorbs very well.  Often eye cream can make my eyes sting and this has not given me any trouble at all and my eyes feel quite refreshed afterwards. I am currently using it morning and evening - often I wear something a little heavier in texture before bed - but this seems to be holding up very well through the night (especially given that this is the season to over indulge and I think I am pretty dehydrated - black marks for me........)

Light and full of moisture - I love it!

I have to say that I was impressed with Eucerin and therefore I have been to my local (very small) branch of Boots and bought some day cream - will give you the low down on that one next time!

Another item in the box were a small tester size of Nivea Smooth Sensation - I love Nivea and of course it leaves my skin soft as you might expect - but aside from that this particular formulation does not offer me anything 'wow'.  I have some 'in shower' Nivea which I have just started to use and that certainly had more of the 'wow' factor for me.

Love Nivea but this did not have the WOW factor

The new Lolita Lempicka fragrance, Elle L'Aime, was also a hit with my daughter!!  That went missing fairly quickly - but its a lovely light fragrance with what I thought was a hint of vanilla - so just up her street!

Finally there was a lipstick from Inglot - not a brand I had heard of until I moved to the UAE.  I understand there were either lipsticks or eyeshadows in the box, depending on the profile you complete when you sign up.  I have to say they must have done a good job since I love it and it looks great on me - but my daughter was not remotely interested in the colour - Hurrah!! The texture is really good and it has reasonable staying power (not much stays on my lips for long - but I maybe should use a primer.....).  I also think that darker nude shades really suit us grown ups...... nude is definitely not just for the supermodels!

Loving the Nude.....

Selfie - ignore the shape and size - check out the colour!!!

So thats me for today - would love to hear about your current beauty crushes!

Check out the following links for more info :)

Glambox ME

Sally Hughes

Eucerin