L'Occitane 40th Anniversary Limited Editions

L'Occitane* is a brand which continues to excite me, the products, though luxury are priced so competitively it is hard not to want them all. It is also L'Occitane which reignited by love for all things Lavender and opened my eyes to many products that I can now not be without. It has now been 40 years since Olivier Baussan began distilling Rosemary essential oil to sell to local markets and since 1976 Oliviers passion for nature continues to strengthen and with over 3000 stores open worldwide, L'Occitane has an amazing history of Provencal beauty.

So,to celebrate its 40th anniversary and the generous natural heritage of Provence, L'OCCITANE has created a limited edition with a unique spirit. Its design, featuring striking green, diagonal lines, evokes fields of verbena seen from the sky before harvest time.

Lavender Rough-Cut Soaps £10

You can grasp the scent of Lavender before you even open these soaps and gosh they are divine. 

Enriched with lavender essential oil from Haute-Provence and Lavender flowers to help gently exfoliate the body,  these soaps inspired by authentic handcrafted soaps gently cleanse the hands and body, leaving them delicately scented.  

Verbena Moisturising Body Mousse £18

If you need a product to kick you awake in a morning, then this body moousse is just that product.  It is enriched with an extract of organic verbena from Provence and refreshing active ingredients, this moisturising body mousse, with its light-as-air texture, gives an intense feeling of freshness while leaving skin delicately scented with the fresh and sparkling notes of verbena.

It leaves your skin not only feeling hydrated and moisturised, but the fresh scent is just absolutely lovely not to mention long lasting. Perfect for all skin types too.

Lavender Foaming Bath £20.

If you have trouble sleeping, then this is a product you need in your life.  I absolutely love the Lavender foaming bath, it is just divine.  Formulated with a vegetal cleansing base, the Lavender Foaming Bath leaves the skin clean and supple. The A.O.C. lavender essential oil from Haute-Provence has both calming and soothing properties and there is a subtly about the scent in so much as it isn't over the top and won't make you smell like your Grandma, but if you have ever smelt fresh Lavender, then this is what perfumes your bath water to soothe and relax you.

The final product is Verbena Eau de Toilette (£42) which is described as being 'A bright and dazzling' Eau de toilette with verbena from Provence to awaken the body and mind.

With this EDT there is something quite special about it.  There is  a beautifully fresh lemony scent which is immediately noticeable and then the earthy freshness of the freshly picked green leaves of Verbena, rosy base of geranium and lemon tree add a little kick.  This is a scent which is perfect for a hot summers day, it is long lasting, smells just incredible and I absolutely love it.

So here is an amazing line up of products which come together to make an amazing 40th anniversary limited edition list.

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise

Aromatherapy Associates Limited Edition Renewing Rose Body Velvet

I am going to confess that I have a bit of a love thing going on with Aromatherapy Associates, to date there hasn't been a product I have disliked, only the opposite. Now as they celebrate their 30th Anniversary this year, a product has been created to celebrate and mark that occasion. That product is the Aromatherapy Associates Limited Edition Renewing Rose Body Velvet and the name alone screams luxury to me, so when it arrived, I couldn't wait to open it and loved it from the first time I smelt it.

 The body velvet combines the highest quality essential oils and plant extracts, to help rejuvenate the skin, for a noticeably firmer appearance and feel. Ingredients such as velvet flower extract which is rich in minerals ate designed to help your skin retain moisture levels for a younger, smoother looking skin. Add to that the inclusion of special peptides and gotu kola which on its own has some of the most amazing skin rejuvenating properties and assist a host of skin complaints and ailments such as cellulite, eczema, scarring as well as hosting the most amazing skin rejuvenating properties. Putting these together, not only is your left looking revitalised with improved tone and feeling softer for longer, you will see an improvement in your skins suppleness.  I have to say, it really does leave your skin velvety soft and smooth after using and is the perfect treat.

This cream as I said screams luxury and it really is a lovely thick and as soon as you apply it to your skin, it wants to absorb it as soon as it can, which it does realty well. Once it has been absorbed there is no greasy film or residue left behind, instead you get the lovely scent of rose, geranium and sandalwood, which makes it quite floral with a bit of a kick, that aroma you get when you walk into a spa is what it reminds me, something fresh and clean.

The tub costs £50 is huge at 200ml and for me, this is not a cream you would apply every day morning and night, it is something you would use as a treat, for a special occasion, a big night and so on, something to add a bit of luxury to your pamper session.

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel

I am a bit of a Lush fanatic and I love the colour pink. How right that person was and I get very excited at Christmas Time when the Lush Limited Edition products come out.

One of my favourite Lush products ever is the Snow Fairy shower gel.

The shower gel inside the bottle is a bright candy pink colour and once you squeeze a little out onto the palm on your hand you can instantly recognise the sweet candy scent which has to be one of the sweetest things you will ever smell but in a nice way, it isn't overpowering like a vanilla scented product is, instead this shower gel is so sweet it reminds me of candy canes which you hang on your Christmas tree, Also within this shower gel are little pieces of glitter which sparkle in the light and is perfect for Christmas. When using this shower gel you will need to squeeze the bottle quite hard at first to produce a small blob like portion on the palm of your hand and the gel is quite thick in texture so you wont need as much as you would normally. 

After my shower my skin was very soft and moisturised and the sweet candy scent was to me really nice and I could still smell it on my skin in the evening, after being at work all day. Also, rather than using it as just a shower gel, I have to admit that I have used it as bubble bath, when I've come home from work and am so tired all I want is a long hot soak and I really cannot be bothered to have a shower, using this shower gel as a bubble bath substitute works really well, lots of bubbles are created and the smell lingers throughout the house much better than when I use it in the shower. 


Snow Fairy retails from Lush in three different sizes and naturally three different prices. The bottle I was given was the 100ml bottle which is the standard size within gift packages such as the one I received and that would retail at almost £3.50. There are much bigger bottles which I would buy usually to last me through the year and they come in a 250ml size which would cost £6.85 and a 500ml bottle which would cost £10.95.

As I have said this is one of my absolute favourite Lush products and if you haven't tried it, then get to Lush quick because it is only ever available at Christmas time.

Maybelline BabyLips Cherry Velvet - Limited Edition

If something is 'limited edition' there is every chance that I am going to want it at some stage.  Maybelline Baby Lips hits the shops here in the UK a few months ago and they created quite a frenzy across the bloggersphere and like many people, I bought the hype and have them all and in all fairness I do like and use them.

At the weekend I happened to be in Boots looking for a few gifts and one in particular for a giveaway I was doing when I came across a limited edition Baby Lips product called Cherry Velvet which wasn't for sale and was only available if you bought two other Maybelline products, well as it happened I needed two products anyway, so this was an added bonus.

The description from Maybelline for this lip balm is as follows:

Maybelline SPF20 Lip Balm, Cherry Velvet has a Lip renew formula and 8-hr hydration for visibly renewed lips in 4 weeks. It is highly moisturizing and nourishing, repairing damaged lips with each application. It can soothe and condition your lips, preventing it from suffering from chapping, formation of wrinkles. Your lips look healthy and soft throughout the year, even under the very dry climate in winter!

I love the two tone pink packaging for this lip balm and as soon as you remove the lid, the cherry scent is very noticeable.  The lip balm itself is white in colour, though if you look close enough you can see a hint of pink and as you apply it to your lips it is so lovely and smooth and gives the very slightest sheen, but is really moisturising and is perfect for going over the top if lipstick, lip crayons and so on.

Do you have any of these Baby Lips Lip Balm? Do you have a favourite?