So many of you loved the L’Occitane calendar that I shared in this post that I’ve teamed up with them again to bring you another chance to get hold of it. Although you can still find it in store nationwide, as expected their incredible Christmas calendar has completely sold out online! I have 5 up for grabs and all you have to do is enter this simple competition.

Enter your details here for a chance to win, it’s so so simple and if you’re one of the lucky 5 you’ll be able to treat yourself every day in December.

The competition closes on Sunday 20th November, so don’t forget to click here to enter. Good luck!

*This blog post contains an advertisement by L’Occitane

Where has this year gone?! Believe it or not we are (sort of) on the countdown to Christmas and for me, that always starts with beauty advent calendars.

I first discovered this luxury alternative to a classic chocolate calendar three or four years ago and since then they have just got better and better.

The L’Occitane en Provence advent calendar is a beautiful work of art which has sold out every year since it launched two years ago. It’s no surprise with £82 worth of L’Occitane products inside but a retail price of only £42!

It’s definitely one of the prettiest advent calendars out there. It’s illustrated by renowned French illustrator Kanako and shows the festive atmosphere of the L’Occitane gift workshop. It’s so cute! I think the mixing room is my favourite but every scene is so beautiful I could just stare at it all day. It’s definitely the sort of calendar that you’d want to display on a shelf for everyone to see.

Hidden behind every door are 24 luxury travel sized products including my all-time favourite Almond Shower Oil. I won’t give away too much of what’s inside but it’s the perfect mix of fragrance, skincare, body and haircare.

L’Occitane have been kind enough to give you guys a special offer to receive free delivery for everyone who purchases a calendar using my special link below. Also, even better, if you’re one of the first 50 you’ll receive 3 mini L’Occitane crackers filled with their iconic shea hand creams for yourself or to use as a gift

To purchase your own L’Occitane calendar with free P&P (and free crackers for the first 50 people) please use this link and add the code “LILYXMAS” at checkout to claim your crackers!

Bring on Christmas I say!

*This post contains a paid for advertorial by Philips

As you all know, I’ve been a huge fan of epilating for about a year since my friend Keisha introduced me to it. I used to shave my legs and found that the hair would grow back the same day, thicker and more coarse than ever. Since epilating, I have seen the most amazing results so I now exclusively epilate my legs, underarms and arms – it’s fair to say it’s been pretty life changing (as far as hair removal goes!).

For me, the pros completely outweigh the cons! It’s more painful than shaving for sure, but I personally find it less painful than waxing. My hairs have been growing back thinner and more gradually so it’s not all in one go, so it’s visually more subtle. I epilate around once a week which is crazy compared to my old daily shaving routine!

I’ve recently moved on from my entry level epilator and I’m testing out the Philips Satinelle Advanced Wet & Dry Epilator. It’s quite different to what I’m used to as it has a really wide head, so it picks up all the really fine hairs very well. Something I noticed straight away is how light it is to hold and the slighter longer S-shaped handle means it fits into my hand really nicely.

It can be used for both wet and dry use, although I personally prefer to use it on dry legs. It also comes with a huge selection of attachments including a body brush for exfoliation, a body massager to relax and give radiant skin, different sized heads for personalisation and to epilate on different areas of the body as well as a shaver head and trimming comb.

I’m really getting on with it and it’s the perfect timing just before Summer kicks in! You can check out the Philips Satinelle Advanced Epilator here and if you have any questions on epilating feel free to message me, I’ll be happy to talk further about my experience.

Ask me what my top three favourite perfumes are and it’s likely they’ll all be from Jo Malone. It’s without a doubt my favourite brand for natural, easy-to-wear scents and it’s rare for me to finish a fragrance but I work my way through Jo Malone scents like there’s not tomorrow.

The ones I always gravitate towards are Blackberry & Bay, Wild Fig & Cassis and Wood Sage & Sea Salt. Blackberry & Bay is very clean smelling so I wear this when I want to feel refreshed and vibrant. Wild Fig & Cassis is very earthy and quite sexy I think, this is my oldest and most loved Jo Malone scent and I love wearing it in the evenings. Wood Sage & Sea Salt is light and fresh and perfect for the warmer months.

Jo Malone have always been brilliant at gifting with so many options for personalisation. One of the ways you can personalise a gift or make your own perfume a little more special is by engraving it. I have “Lily” engraved onto one of my fragrances (you can have up to 30 characters) but you can also have initials engraved onto the lid. This works on their colognes and home candles.

The lovely people at Jo Malone have given me a special code so that if you guys want to engrave your own perfume, whether it’s for you or as a gift, you can use my code and get the engraving done for free! It usually costs extra but they’ve waved their magic wand and given it complimentary just for us, for a limited time.

You can use the code LILYPEBBLES at checkout for your free engraving and the code will be active until Friday 15th April. So if you’ve be thinking about it, now is the time to delve into the Jo Malone world. Let me know what you decide to get! – link

Chanel have done it again. Turned something practical into something both practical and incredible beautiful. Everything Chanel does has class, an approachable sense of luxury and indulgent feel that is infectious. In this case I’m talking about the new “on-the-go” Coco Mademoiselle Touche De Parfum. The original Coco Mademoiselle is one of their most popular fragrances, it’s fresh and vibrant with orange, jasmine, rose, patchouli and vetiver notes throughout. It’s slightly lighter than the other Chanel fragrances and probably my favourite from their “for her” range. The Chanel perfume bottles are gorgeous and worth keeping out on display, but the glass bottles means they have never been great for travelling.

At the end of February they launched the Touche De Parfum, a limited edition perfume dispenser that was inspired by lipstick. It’s the size of a lipgloss and housed in their famous “pop up” lipgloss packaging too. You press the Chanel logo at the end and the applicator pops out. This is the first time I’ve seen perfume that can be applied like this. I’ve seen rollerballs but this perfume has a stiff, plastic applicator that can deposit the clear fragrance onto your wrists, neck or behind the ears. It means you can discreetly top up your fragrance almost like you would a lipgloss. The perfume comes in a beautiful beige suede case so it really is a handbag accessory.

I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s the ultimate treat – it would make a beautiful gift too! 

The Touche De Parfum is £65, it’s Chanel after all and it’s limited edition. I love the idea, it’s so special.

Ask for me for a list of my favourite brands and Jo Malone would definitely be near the top of that list! I tried so hard not to get addicted, it’s an expensive hobby, but I’ve grown up with a mother who almost exclusively wears Jo Malone fragrances… it was bound to happen!

It’s not just their fragrances though that draw me in, their body range is beautiful and they have some gorgeous new launches out at the moment. “A Moment for You”, their most recent body launch celebrates taking a moment, breathing and just enjoying some alone time. I definitely know how it feels to be addicted to being busy and if there’s anything that’s going to force me to take a chill pill, it’s a long, hard-earned bath! In this range is the Geranium & Walnut Body Scrub mentioned in this favourites video and a new shower oil which is available in three iconic scents.

Let’s start with the scrub which I’ve been using for over a month now and who knew I could get so excited by a scrub?! I like to use this whilst sitting in the bath and it’s quite different to some of the harsh scrubs I’ve tried before. It’s incredibly rich and creamy so it doesn’t feel that scrubby but it made my skin so soft, I was really surprised. The smell isn’t too sweet and has a nice clean scent that lingers on the skin. The 250g tub is HUGE and so I don’t think I’ll be finishing this any time soon.

The shower oils are new for Jo Malone and they chose to launch with the three scents Blackberry & Bay, Peony & Blush Suede and Lime Basil & Mandarin. I’m not a huge fan of the last two fragrances but Blackberry & Bay is one of my favourites. I love the fragrance and it’s perfectly fitting for a shower product. The oil is incredibly luxurious and I love how it makes my skin feel and smell. This is one of those products I’ve banned Rich from using. It’s mine!

Finally, their most recent fragrance launch, Mimosa & Cardamom. Personally this isn’t one for me but let me tell you about it anyway, we all have different taste! Mimosa & Cardamom is a “bohemian” scent blending the top notes of Cardamom with the heart of Mimosa and a base note of Tonka Bean. It’s spicy and woody with a slight honey scent lingering in there too. I find it to be quite a warm scent, its definitely comforting.

So that’s what Jo Malone has been getting up to recently, I hope the little round up was helpful for you. Do any of these new launches take your fancy?

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