The Library of Fragrance Perfume

If you hadn't guessed by now, one of the most popular items in this household bwteen Beautykinguk and I is something smelly - either a candle or some perfume/aftershave, infact between us, we probably make The Perfume Shop look half empty! When I heard about the new launch of The Library of Fragrance, I was really excited, if you are a US reader then your version is called Demeter. The Library of Fragrance here in the UK has a massive collection of 101 different fragrances to choose from, and secondly, each of the 101 fragrances have been designed to smell exactly like an object and experience from life so imagine my difficulty when it came to selecting a scent!

I looked at each and everyone within the catalogue to choose from and randomly rattled it down to five - Jasmine, Holy Water, Bulgarian Rose, Peony and Rain. All of which to me sounded like scents I would love. That said Thunderstorm, Fresh coconut, Fireplace, Wet Garden and Play Dough are all quirky enough to have caught my attention.  So if you do struggle to select a scent and want to order a few, then you can actually layer these scents one over the other to create your own individual scent - how amazing is that?  This is the first time I have heard of doing something like that and it is definitely something i am going to try.

I was sent the Jasmine scent which happens to be my favourite scent currently and it is every bit as amazing as I was expecting it to be. firstly the packaging, it is such a great rectangular shape that it stands out immediately, then the label which is quite old-fashioned but clear to read, with everything you need to know being visible right on front of you. described as follows:

"Jasmine – exotic, sweet, warm and heady. Our Jasmine fragrance is the experience of the living flowers picked on a beautifully fragrant spring night – at night because this is when the jasmine flower opens its petals and bestows us with its most intoxicating fragrance.

Captivating and seductive, jasmine is one of the flowers most valued by perfumers, and is largely grown in the French region of Grasse, the home of perfumery. Jasmine’s mood-inducing scent is one of the most distinct of all natural odours. If you like your fragrance to make an impact and to announce your arrival, our Jasmine is the scent for you"

I absolutely love this scent and have worn it a lot since it came into my possession, it isn't over the top when first spritzed but it does last a good 4-5 hours before you need to re-apply and given the size of the bottle, it is a handy size for carrying around in your handbag.

You can purchase The Library of Fragrance's scents from their own website, or you buy from selected Boots stores. Each of The Library of Fragrance perfumes are 30ml in size, and cost just £15 each.

What do you think to this concept? Has any of the scents caught your attention?

EOS Lip Balm

Regular readers will know that I am more than slightly obsessed with Lip Balms, always have been.  When I saw one of my local beauty shops selling the EOS Lip Balms for just £2.99 I went in and bought a few of the flavours that he had.

EOS is an American brand, known as Evolution Of Smooth who specialise in lotions, creams and balms and isn't as readily available in the UK as I hoped they would be, though you can find many places online to purchase them.  Currently available in ten different flavours, I opted for Pomegrante Raspberry (which I gave to a friend) and Honeysuckle Honeydew which I kept for myself.

The first thing that attracted me to these lip balms is their quirky shape, rather than coming in tube form they are instead a funky spherical shape which makes them stand out and when in your handbag, it makes them much easier to find, especially if like me you always have more than one lipstick and lipbalms with you.

Funky shape aside, these lip balms are  95% organic and 100% natural. The ingredients within this EOS lip balm include Shea Butter, Vitamin E and Jojoba oil to moisturise and soften lips. They are also paraben and petroleum free which I am quite pleased about, one thing I dislike about Vaseline, other than the fact it feels like you have rubbed a block of lard across your lips, is the way it leaves my lips feeling, hydrated and tacky.

This lip balm applies to the lips clear, there is no colour left on the lips and it most definitely does do a great job at softening and moisturising. The scent also becomes noticeable as soon as the lid is removed and it is one of those authentic fragrances, not too overpowering but most definitely something I really like, almost good enough to eat.  The main fragrance for me in Melon and Honeysuckle, both of which you can see listed within the ingredients.

These lip balms retail online for around £5.99 which I think makes them grea value for money and they are definitely something I would recommend trying, I will more than definitely be trying some of the other flavours just as soon as this one runs out, which having used it constantly for the last 6 weeks, it shows no sign of doing just yet.

Have you tried either the EOS lip balms? Do you have a favourite one?

Wantable Make-up Box for February

I don't know whether you have heard of Wantable and that they now ship to the UK?  Well I was offered the chance to try and test out of their boxes** for review purposes.  The choice of boxes with Wantable are:

• Make-up - within your box you will get 4-5 full sized products
• Fashion Accessories - 3-4 boutique accessories
• Intimate - 4-5 premium essentials

All the products you get within your box come from your profile which you set-up and then complete a series of questions answering how much you like/dislike things, it is quite a comprehensive form and the idea is that it is used to select products for you box, so for example, if you don't like mascara, you can say so and you should not get any within your box.

I opted for the make-up box to try and test, completed my questionnaire and firstly, I was quite impressed with how sturdy the box is and how really nice packaged the contents were as to avoid them getting broken, dented or smashed during its shipment.

Now to the contents in a bit more detail:

ncLA Nail Lacquer - retails for $16

In shade Drop Dead Gorgeous which is deep royal blue shade with added sparkle, I am yet to try this, but it is the kind of shade I would wear on my toes.

LAQA & Co - Fat lip pencil in Wolfman - retails for $18

This isn't a product I have come across before, though I do love how pretty the shade is and it is really lovely once applied.

DEX New York Lipgloss - retails for $18

The shade of this is called Christopher Street Orchid and as you can see from the picture above it is a lovely shade of pink and once on the lips it is slightly tacky, but not so much that I want to rub it off.  It looks great on its own or over some lipstick

Sorme Shimmer Glow - retails for $24.5

This is a sparkling mineral face and body bronzer in Bronzed 85 and it is like nothing I have used before.  You simply shake the powder down into the brush by turning it upside down and then brush it over your face and body as you deem appropriate.  Inside the wand, the shade does look quite dark, but once applied it is quite light and there is a lot of sparkle.

Sorme Anti-aging Trial Size - retails for $0

It says on the packet that this is a silky perfecting primer which smoothes skins surface, fills in wrinkles and diminishes discolourations for flawless long lasting make-up.  It then goes on to say "cliniqually proven Dermaxyl helps reduce the depth of lines, wrinkles and crows feet as Vitamins A, C and E plus nourishing Grape Seed Oil hydrate the skin and help prevent free radical damage".  So quite a lot of claims for this little sachet to live up too and I am looking forward to putting it to the test. 

Wantable boxes cost $36 per box, which is roughly £21-£22 per month, my box is worth a whopping $76.5 or £46 which is amazing really and I have been introduced to some new brands and some products I have never used before. 

If this is something you think you might like to try, simply click HERE and choose your box.