Elemis Debenhams Beauty Night

What happens when you put together a group of Birmingham-based beauty bloggers, a full kit of Elemis products and a team of Elemis experts? 

This was the scene last week when Retail Birmingham and Elemis Birmingham hosted a blogger evening to give us a real Elemis experience.

Elemis experts in action!

Turning up in a full face of make up, we swiftly took it all off again to go through a fully guided Elemis facial. Going through many stages and many products, we were given a choice of products to use at every point to suit our skin types. I've honestly never tried so many products from one brand, from the cleanser and toner to face mask, exfoliator, moisturiser, serum and more.

It was a great experience and felt just like a girly sleepover, but with two experts on hand to guide us through the products and application techniques. We also had to wear white headbands and bibs so you can imagine how hilarious we looked! The shoppers in Debenhams must have had a giggle when they saw us!

Elemis products against the Birmingham skyline

Some of the products I tried were the Pro Collagen Cleansing Balm, Rehydrating Ginseng Toner, Gentle Rose Exfoliator, Pro Intense Eye and Lip Contour Cream and Absolute Eye Serum, all of which left my skin feeling AMAZING and I couldn't stop touching it after I left (naughty I know!)

Fabulous Birmingham Beauty bloggers including Chloe from Gastronomic Gorman, Natasha from Nutella Tasha, Natalie from Beauty Baking and Babbling, Charlotte from A Much Prettier Puzzle and Vanessa from The Other VW as well as the very glam Kim from Retail Birmingham

I also managed to get a snap of us all together, and guess what, it's a no make up group shot! Can you believe a bunch of beauty bloggers agreed to this? It must have been the fabulous products though as I think everyone looks glowing!

Thank you so much to the team at Elemis Debenhams Birmingham and Kim Stephens for organising the event. 

Collective Empties ft Dior Bioderma Crabtree & Evelyn and L'Occitane

It’s that time again! So here goes another huge collective haul. I’ve really been focusing on using up all the miniatures I seem to accumulate and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.

Bioderma Micelle Solution – This makes light work of removing make up without tugging at skin. I’ve repurchased this about 3 times already and can see myself buying this for a long time to come, even if it is a touch pricey.

Dior Addict Eau Fraiche  - A Christmas present from a while back, I;ve only just got round to using this and managed to finish it in a matter of weeks as it’s only a 30ml bottle. As much as I like it, I’m in no hurry to repurchase as I love trying out new scents!

Elemis Tranquil Touch Creamy Body Wash – A feminine, floral scent, as lovely as this is I don’t think I’ll be treating myself to such a pricey shower gel as this 100ml bottle is worth £7.50!

Sure Clear Aqua Deo – Not really worth commenting on this but it does the job!

Sensodyne Classic – As above!

Glucosamine Sulphate – I think these are good for joints, not entirely sure but I’m trying to be good and take my vitamins daily.

Crabtree and Evelyn Rosewater Hand Therapy – Lovely! I adore rose and jasmine scents and I managed to use this up really quickly.

L’Occitane Rose Tenderness Hand Cream – Another lovely hand cream finished, luckily I have a few in the stash as I really do seem to get through these.

Macadamia Rejuvenating Shampoo – Love these! The range really does make your hair feel soft and shiny. I might just treat myself to the full sized bottle in the future.

L’Oreal EverRiche Shampoo – A great all round shampoo that I’ll consider repurchasing but for now I want to try something different as I definitely feel that hair looks better when you switch your shampoos around.

Andrew Barton SOS Help Me Super Repair Shampoo – I don’t know quite how repairing this is but it certainly smelt like caramel and toffee, which is nice! It definitely did the job but I’m looking for more specialist shampoo at the moment.

Peter Thomas Roth Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Lotion and Body Wash – I have no idea where these minis came from, certainly a hotel somewhere, but the entire range smells so good, I can’t get enough of it! It’s hard to tell how good the product is when you’re working with such small quantities but I really enjoyed using them and would love to know where these are from!

H20 Spa Hydrating Body Butter – Another hotel miniature, this was surprisingly nourishing and did a good job.

The White Company Flowers Bath and Shower Gel – Wow! The scent of this really does hit you, although sadly doesn’t stick around on skin too much. Very luxurious at £12 for the 250ml bottle.

How are you guys getting on with your empties?!

Elemis Pro Collagen Body Cream Product Review

Elemis Pro Collagen Body Cream available here

I'm really enjoying trying out Elemis products at the moment and I'm dying to try out the FreshSkin sets.

However, right now we're talking about the Elemis Pro Collagen Body Cream.* 

The product itself

What is it?

A body firming cream

How much does it cost?

£51 for 200ml

What does it claim to do?

"This decadent new Pro-Collagen formula combines mexican skin tree, amino acids and padina pavonica with exotic babassu, castanha and bilberry seed oils to help restore skin cohesion and visibly tone the body. The result is a beautifully smooth, luminous and firmer looking body. Helps to smooth out crepey skin texture. Deeply hydrating. Improved skin contours. This new formula is designed with lattice technology and a unique complex of marine extract padina pavonica, amino acids and exotic oils to give you advanced anti-ageing results for your body. Lifts and firms with an "invisible stocking effect". Tones the skin by helping to restore cell cohesion. Helps skin recover from environmental damage. Illuminates the skin with a youthful radiance."

Close up - look for the sparkles!

The verdict

I applied this as directed using circular motions into cleansed, dry skin morning and evening. The product itself is a quite thick, lovely warm gold colour cream.

Not only does it sink in very easily and feel soft, it leaves skin feeling comfortably moisturised without any residue. It as if you hadn't mositurised at all in that skin feels natural after application, as if it's just your skin as it should be.

Compared to the areas which hadn't been moisturised, skin appears softer, smoother and more even. Skin looks and feels softer and firmer. The illuminating effect comes from the tiny gold particles within the cream itself as well as the colour of the cream and leaves a lovely warm glow on skin. Excuse the extreme close up but hopefully you can see the gold particles on the hand picture above!

Overall, this is wonderful luxury product that leaves skin looking illuminated and feeling hydrated. A luxury product that I'd personally save for evenings out and special events.

Have you guys tried out any of the Elemis range?

Elemis Timetospa + Matalan + Neal's Yard Remedies Discount Codes

Click here to use the code on the Elemis website 

You guys know I love a good offer so I wanted to share this one with you just in case you're about to place an order at www.timetospa.co.uk.

There's a 15% discount on orders for new customers only on Elemis products via the timetospa website. All you need to do to get the discount is use the code TTSPR.

Click here to use the Matalan discount code

Matalan are also offering £10 off your first online order when you spend £25 or more at www.matalan.co.uk before 26th July 2013. Use the code 4EE7137B62.

                                                Click here to use the Neal's Yard Remedies discount code

Last but not least, you can get 20% off at Neal's Yard Remedies, just enter INSTYLE13 at the checkout.m

Happy shopping!

July Magazine Freebies: Model Co, Elemis, Ciate and more

Glamour Magazine with Model Co Lipgloss

Bad news guys, I'm afraid it looks like we're going to be spending all our pennies on magazines this month!

It's a bumper month for fab freebies so I've rounded up all the offers on newsstands now to help you decided what to buy before you head out.

Glamour: Choose from 5 products from Model Co including an eyeliner, mascara, two shades of lipgloss and an eyeliner worth £78 in total. The lipgloss and mascara have a little mirror on the side for touchups on the go. It is actually just £1, ignore the price on my cover as this is a subscribers edition.

Cosmopolitan: Free sunglasses, 3 styles to choose from including a glamorous oversized pair and classic aviators. 

Company: Fabric make up bag

Tatler: Free sunglasses

In Style: Neal's Yard Remedies Power Berry Daily Facial Moisturiser worth £12

Marie Claire: Ciate Caviar Manicure duo (mini paint pot in shade Cookies & Cream and gold caviar beads topcoat set) worth £10

Red: Elemis Pro Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm worth £11.50

Elle: Rodial Brazilian Tan in clear, light and dark worth £13.50

Traveller: Free Neom Hand Cream (50ml) worth £15

April empties – Soap & Glory, Elemis, Batiste

This is the first time I’ve done an empties post, as I’ve seen so many bloggers doing these and I love having a peek at what you guys really use! So here goes, it’s not massive as I can never seem to actually finish my products, and those that I do are of the usual shampoo/conditioner/shower gel variety.

Soap & Glory Clean On Me

I adore this shower gel, not least for the gorgeous scent (I think this one is scented with the infamous Original Pink?). This 500ml bottle is amazing value for money at £5.50 and it’s lasted me 3 or 4 months which is amazing considering my £1 bottles last less than 4 weeks, and a little does go a long way with this.

Repurchase? Definitely, once I’ve got through my hoard of shower gels.

Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo

I don’t even need to say anything about this, other than it’s great. Repurchased in a larger size before this one was even finished!

Elemis

The reason I have so many Elemis travel size products here is because I was gifted a BA in flight toiletries bag which contained all these goodies. They are small though so I couldn’t try them out for very long before they finished! I’ve never used this brand before but have heard great things about it so I’m looking forward to purchasing some full sized products in the future.

Elemis Balancing Lavender Facial Wipe

Just the one wipe, but this was a decent size and has a gorgeous relaxing lavender scent. As for effectiveness, it did remove my make up and left my skin feeling comfortable, but with a slight sticky residue.

Elemis Pro Collagen Eye Renewal

A tiny sachet containing 0.5ml of a semi opaque gel. This was quite good, but no match for my favourite eye cream, Origins GinZing.

Elemis Skin Nourishing Hand and Body Lotion

A decent quality cream that is more effective used on the body as it’s not quite rich enough for hands. Pretty good as a body moisturiser, a pleasant scent which is a bit old fashioned though (reminds me of something my aunt used to wear). Not up to my usual hand cream, Clarins Hand & Nail Treatment Cream as I love an intensive product for hands. Also prefer any of my usual body creams/butters.

Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream

This smells nice, moisturises well but I woke up with a very shiny face!

Elemis Lip Revive

Quite a sticky formulation, but it is very moisturising. Oddly, it does have a grainy texture, which I’d imagine is down to exfoliation purposes.

Sensodyne Total Care

This probably shouldn’t have been included in this post, but my empties were looking a bit thin on the ground and since we’re in a sharing mood… But yes, this is my favourite toothpaste and I will definitely be repurchasing it!