March Beauty Favourites

Fountain, The Beauty Molecule
I use this liquid vitamin complex in my juices, full disclosure, it's tastes totally gross on it's own, so masking it in a juice is better. It definitely has made my skin and hair glow and my nails have been stronger too. A great alternative to vitamin tablets as it's packed full of water-soluble antioxidants that are absorbed instantly into your body, due to its liquid form, giving you healthy glowing skin.
£25 Urban Outfitters

Mac Clear Bow Set
My BAE, my brows are basically a myth and so are drawn on for the most part. Anyone who pencils in their tails will know that there's a high risk you may lose one or both eyebrows during the day. Therefore this is a miracle product. It's like Lipcote for your brows and I get through about five tubes a year.
£13.50 Mac 

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan Eau de Parfum 
This deep and heady scent is quite polarising, it's not a trend floral or a sweet vanilla scent of the kind that are popular on the mass market. It's most certainly a niche fragrance, but if you're brave enough it's beautiful. The main note is, as the name suggests, amber and it's so warm and exotic and lasts for hours and hours. It's a really special perfume, if you like unusual scents then try this or some other Serge Lutens perfumes.
£74 Space NK

This Week's Beauty Picks

Brand Focus: Byredo

Stockholm-based fragrance house Byredo are best known for their cult black wax candles and chic, minimal packaging but they also do the most divine perfumes and skincare with names so magical you'll want to display them pride of place on your dressing table. 

I'm planning a Gypsy Water purchase soon, so stay tuned for a review. 

SHOP BYREDO

Diptyque Mimosa Candle Review

I’m a huge fan of Diptyque candles, for the obvious reasons that they look amazing and are a bit of a fashion status symbol, but also because their scent and quality is unrivalled.

Everyone likes a scented candle but until you’ve burned one of these babies you’re missing out – the scents are strong enough to fragrance a whole room without being overpowering and the use of high quality essential oils and spices means that the smell is deliciously relaxing. They even give off a fragrance when not being burned!

The Mimosa candle is ideal for those of you who favour fresh, clean scents – with a floral fragrance that evokes spring the Mimosa candle works best in an airy living room or hallway.

Selfridges £20

SHOP THE POST

#REVIEW & Other Stories Tangier Tales Fragrance

Swedish high street powerhouse & Other Stories are renowned for their cosmetics - their makeup and skincare is as good as their clothing and accessories with sleek minimalist packaging and, of course, it's great quality.

I ran out of my signature scent Ambre Sultan and being a little skint I didn't want to shell out the £75 so I decided to give one on Stories scents a whirl. At a purse-pleasing £26 the perfume comes in a chic glass bottle with a fabric label.

The fragrance is fresh yet rich with notes of juicy pear mellowing to a deep spicy Amber - I've had lots of compliments, there are 5 other scents in the range which you can view here.

& Other Stories Perfumes

H&M’s cooler, more sophisticated sister brand & Other Stories launches its first fragrances this month, and they’re everything and more than we expected from the Scandinavian fashion powerhouse.

DIANA VREELAND PERFUME

Ever since seeing the fantastic film The Eye Has toTravel (please watch it, it’s divine!) I’ve had a major fashion-crush on Diana Vreeland’. The late fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar (she held this position for an unprecedented 26 years) and Editor-in-Chief of US Vogue is one of the most influential fashion editors of all time…. And now you can smell like her!

Vreeland’s grandson, Alexander Vreeland, has created five luxury Diana Vreeland Parfums; cleverly named after quotes from Mrs. Vreeland herself: ‘Extravagance Russe’, ‘Absolutely Vital’, ‘Perfectly Marvellous’, ‘Simply Divine’ and ‘Outrageously Vibrant’. 

Each fragrance has been blended to represent Mrs. Vreeland’s eccentric personality and style. Alexander drew on his late grandmother’s set of memoirs and archives to create a truly personal collection of fragrances. The bottles are definitely something to write home about; with jewel-coloured glass and tassel details – I, for one, certainly want one of these on my dressing table.

Diana Vreeland Parfums are available exclusively at Selfridges and come in two sizes, 100ml (£180) and 50 ml (£135)

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan Review

Price: £96 - £75

Bottle: 1920s-inspired, quite masculine and minimal but looks understated and luxe. 

Top Notes: Coriander, Patchouli, Bay leaf 

Heart Notes: Amber, Angelica root, Myrtle

Base Notes: Vanilla, Sandalwood, Benzoin 

Occasion: This is definitely more of a night time perfume but would work well both in winter and summer.

Overall Verdict: This is now my signature scent; after years of looking for one. 

Maybe it's my love of Morocco that has influenced my preference for this scent as the creation of Ambre Sultan was inspired by a piece of Amber offered as a gift to Serge Lutens on his first journey to Marrakech in 1968. For several years Lutens kept the precious gift in a burr thuya box and over time, the two became inextricably linked. 

It's a very spicy, sensual scent and not for the faint-hearted. It does have a slightly masculine quality, but if you have the confidence to carry it off - do it! This scent lasts hours and hours and starts off with a sweet, almost medicinal smell which later develops into a warm and sexy amber, finishing with a heady, sweet vanilla.

It's really unusual and will get you a lot of compliments - just be sparing as it could get overpowering and body heat will intensify this exotic scent. Serge Lutens fragrances are renowned for their unique and surprising qualities, so if you like to stand out from the crowd, this is for you. 

Buy Ambre Sultan HERE

_____________________More spicy fragrances____________________

#Review Guerlain Perfumed Shimmer Powder

Guerlain Perfumed Shimmer Powder  -  c/o Harrods 

I love me a bit of shimmer as regular readers will know (or just those who have seen me liberally dosed in glitter and all thing sparkly) so this product is great for me as it gives a little bit more of an upmarket sheen.

The bottle is a beautiful 1920's-inspired black number with a traditional fabric atomiser and it looks fabulous on my dressing table.

The scent is an updated version by Guerlain's iconic Liu, which sadly they don't make any more, and features roses, vanilla and woody notes for a deliciously seductive scent that smells as good as it looks. 

This would be a great gift as it's a little bit decadent but lovely nonetheless. 

Beauty Storage

Here is a peek at my very unsophisticated beauty storage- vintage pots for brushes, Diptique pots (of course) and some battered old IKEA drawers for all the rest. What do you think? How do you store your beauty products?

#bbloggers Thrifty Beauty

Insanely trampy or cleverly thrifty? You tell me. I happened upon this trick a few weeks back when my perfume bottles and bank balance ran dry at the exact same time. 

So, rather than go into debt replacing my Ange au Demon, I set to work snipping away at the huge pile of magazines I have- and look at the haul!

Not just perfume either- loads of beauty products.

So I've put them all in a little case I can dip-into whenever. These mini samples are also great for nights out or holidays!

I hope you like my thrifty tip- and first proper post! Let me know in the comments... or if you have any frugal tips of your own.

Sheree XX