Thursday 1 December 2011

.'Tis the Season to be Pampered.

I do love a pamper, anytime of the year. However, I think the winter months are the nicest times to give yourself abit of looking after, when your skin's abit dry and your hair's abit brittle because of the harsh weather conditions. There's nothing nicer than coming home after a long day, running a hot bath, lighting a candle and sinking in and having half an hour to yourself. This weekend just gone I made my way to Boots, advantage card in hand and in the knowledge that The Sanctuary products were on a 3 for 2 offer with one mission - To leave armed with many many pamper products. Did I fulfil that mission? What do you think?! And I didn't stop there, no siree. I also purchased a couple of other things from different shops to aid in the pampering...



1)  Yankee Candle: Christmas Cookie. (£7.99)
2) The Sanctuary: Salt Scrub (£10.20)
3) The Sanctuary: Body Moisture Spray (£5.87)
4) The Sanctuary: Body Wash (£5.10)
5) The Sanctuary: Mande Lular Sensuous Bath Creme (£9.45)
6) Dove: Nourishing Oil Care Shampoo, Conditioner and Treatment (Amazing value at Sainsburys, between £1.60-£3.00)
7) L'Occitane: Almond Shower Oil 250ml (£16)



1) Who does not love a Yankee Candle?! I personally can't get enough of them, my favourites are Caramel and Vanilla Cupcake and now this. The name is amazing enough, YAY for Christmas, but the smell is gorgeous. It's a little less sweet than Vanilla Cupcake and not as overpowering but it's still there and it still fills the whole house with an amazing scent. They last an absolute age too so even though they're slightly more expensive than a normal scented candle I think it's worth it.

2) I'm not a massive fan of oily exfoliators, normally because I fake tan after exfoliating and hate the oily residue it leaves, but at the moment i'm giving myself a break from tanning so I treated myself to The Sanctuary Salt Scrub and i'm loving it. It leaves my skin so smooth and not at all irritated. I've also read that it's great to put on before you get in the bath and then let it dissolve into a milk once you're in there, so i'm going to give that a go soon. Oily scrubs feel much more luxurious than other scrubs too which is just what I was looking for.

3) I always have the best intentions when it comes to body moisturising, but I never seem to practice what I preach. I hate waiting for it to dry and then even when you get dressed you're left with this horrible sticky feeling. Step forward The Sanctuary's Body Moisture Spray. It's a dry oil spray than you can apply to wet or dry skin and you get no sticky-ness left over product which I am thrilled about. If you have super dry skin you'd need to purchase something alot richer but for me this works brilliantly as a daily moisturiser.

4) I am the biggest biggest fan of Lush's Snow Fairy Hair and Body Wash, and get through bottles and bottles of it when it's released each year for Christmas. Unfortunately I find it quite drying if I use it every day, and no matter how much I love the smell, I love soft skin more. So I picked up The Sanctuary's Body Wash to see if that would help. I really like it actually and it's definitely more nourishing than SF. It has little beads in it that apparently burst when they come into contact with your skin, I haven't actually noticed that and I think it's more of a marketing ploy. For £5.10 I think it's really good value for a relatively luxury product.

5) This Bath Creme/Bubble Bath is so lovely. You hardly need any to create a lather and it really compliments all my other Sanctuary products. It's not in the slightest bit drying, which I always find with many bath cremes i've tried in the past.

6) If you're going to buy anything for your hair this year, buy these products from Dove. I'm usually abit of a haircare snob and my shampoo and conditioner of choice is normally Redken, but this is on par if not better and so much cheaper! All of the products leave my hair soft, frizz free and manageable, not to mention MEGA shiny. I still use my Moroccanoil treatment once a week but these are fabulous products to use daily and if you're on a tighter budget.

7) I adore this product from the amazing L'Occitane. I have been putting off buying it, due to it's kind of ridiculous price but this evening I was overcome and found myself in the store - how convenient! So I finally purchased it and used it tonight in my bath. I can safely say I understand why it's so coveted and why people buy it even for the price that it is. It smells so sweet and works fantastically as a shave cream. My skin feels so smooth after using it and I think I could go without moisturiser afterwards if I was feeling abit lazy. It is a luxury product for sure, but we all deserve a treat once in a while don't we?!

Kate x

3 comments:

  1. You've got to love a bit of pampering ;)

    Yankee candles are amazing, I love the Christmas Cookie one! I have the Sanctuary salt scrub too and love it xxx

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  2. I love pampering nights! Haven't had one in a while :( Might go buy some candles and some bits n bobs and have one tonight :)
    lovely blog!
    xxx

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  3. I love buying candles with dessert scents during the holiday season. Yankee Candles are awesome.

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