New Beauty Brand Alert! Le Couvent des Minimes

Le Couvent des Minimes is a beautiful new brand originating from the south of France.   

I do love a little back story when it comes to new brands, so here you go;

Le Couvent des Minimes is actually a beautiful hotel and spa in Provence, the south of France.

Before it was transformed into a place of pampering and well being, it was originally a 17^th century Convent, named after the Minim brothers who were botanist monks. They grew and studied several beneficial plant species and used their expertise to provide food and remedies to the surrounding community. These same plants have inspired the current collection of beauty care products and can be found in their recipes today.  

 

A true delight for your senses, Le Couvent des Minimes Natural Skincare Recipes offer a journey through ancient traditions and gorgeous sceneries of gardens and orchards and their extensive product range covers  all of your daily skincare needs with simple, effective and pleasant products.

And so, I was really excited to road test their Smile Lip Balm in Pear Aroma (£5) and the Rose Skincare Regenerating serum (£27). May I firstly draw your attention to their beautiful packaging! I LOVE the traditional, vintage-esq pastel colours and labels. They look expensive and oh so classy! Firstly, the Smile Lip Balm Pear Aroma is designed helps to nourish and repair dry lips on a daily basis. Thanks to its softening Marshmallow with nourishing Shea butter and protective Apricot oil, it is super nourishing, hydrating and totally non sticky. It smells INCREDIBLE, like fresh, fruity, juicy pears. I find myself being unable to resist licking it off my lips for a little taste! It is light, offers a great sheen on your lips and neither greasy nor sticky. It’s simply divine. Going down a more floral route is the Rose Regenerating Serum. Beautifully packaged, this pale pink, fragrant serum works to refine skin texture and even out skin tone.   The silky, velvety and light formula contains a blend of 4 Beneficial Roses to intensely moisturise your skin leaving it looking and feeling fresh and plumped. I’m not ordinarily a big fan of Rose scented products, but I found this serum’s scent to be extremely relaxing and I adored its light texture. Used on my freshly cleansed skin, it was absorbed quickly and left my face feeling fresh and moisturised all while the comforting rose scent lingered and soothed my soul! I can’t wait to get my hands on more from this beautiful new brand! You can help yourself to these products and many more over on their website http://www.lecouventdesminimes.co.uk/ now.

Selfridges Enchanted Spells Beauty Advent Calendar 2014

You know Christmas is coming when Selfridges announces the forthcoming launch of its super popular beauty advent calendar!

The Enchanted Spells Calendar is packed full of a range of gorgeous, luxury products from cult brands including Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Kiehl’s and Viktor and Rolf to name but a few.

Available from this Thursday, the Enchanted Spells Advent Calendar will set you back £85- expensive I know, but it would make an amazing early crimbo present for any beauty lover!

Sign up now HERE to be the first to know when it’s available online.

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector

I’m probably really late the this party, but I’ve recently discovered and fallen head over heels in love with Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector.

It has the shine of a gloss, the nourishing loveliness of a balm and a delicate hint of natural colour to make your lips look totally beautiful.

Available in 6 subtle shades, I am already on a mission to own them all!

I love the pretty tube which is coloured to reflect the shade within, topped with the signature Clarins gold lid.

Gently squeeze the tube to release the product which is dispensed onto a soft, fluffy tip, a genius idea if you ask me! 

Not only does it feel lovely and soft when applied to my lips but it means you avoid the slippage you may otherwise encounter with plastic application tips.

The gel itself is silky smooth and light in texture, smells amazing and is sheer in colour. The product pictured is Shade 1, Rose Shimmer.

It offers a lovely high shine but without even a hint of stickiness often associated with lip glosses, which I hate.

While delicate in tone, it has just enough colour to be worn alone, or applied over the top of another lip shade to add shine and moisture.

It’s just so pretty and it tastes really yummy too!

You can collect your Lip Perfector’s now and each one costs £18.

The Body Shop Drops Of Youth Eye Concentrate

Drops Of Youth Eye Concentrate is the fab new anti ageing eye product from The Body Shop.

This latest eye innovation follows the launch of the best selling, award winning Drops of Youth Concentrate and claims to smooth the appearance of bags, lines and fatigue.

The eye concentrate is enriched with the stem cells of a rare flower called Edelweiss, which offers potent renewal properties to support your skins renewal for smoother, younger looking skin.

Well, I couldn’t think of a better person to test it on than myself, given that with a nearly 9 month old I am pretty much always sporting monster eye bags, lines and am constantly fatigued!

The Product itself is encased within a roller ball applicator, popular with many eye products.

To dispense the product you need to press the roller ball pump down, but you may need to do this quite firmly. 

The concentrate then covers the ball, at which point you can apply it to your eye area, ideally in a figure of 8 motion, before gently patting over it to ensure it is absorbed into your skin.

I liked the cooling, relaxing feeling of the roller ball over my skin and the fact that I wasn’t overwhelmed with too much product being dispensed.

The concentrate was light, silky and absorbed quickly into my skin.

I used this day and night for a week and after 7 days I’d definitely say that I could see a reduction in the darkness of my eye bags and my eye area did look less tired.

I didn’t notice any difference with my lines, sadly, but I was pleasantly surprised to see any difference to be honest as the majority of eye products I’ve tried seem to do very little other than nourish the area.

The Body Shop Drops Of Youth Eye Concentrate is available now and costs £18.