In early October I attended a very special event with Marks and Spencer for the unveiling of their Beauty Advent Calendar. I’ve been dying to share it all with you but was asked to keep it under wraps until the official launch this week. FINALLY I get to tell you all about it. Hooray!
I arrived in typical Loved By Laura style: flushed, makeup half melted away and with a sorry lank mess where my once bouncy hair had been. (Thanks British transport!) Luckily the Marks and Spencer Beauty team had a night of pampering planned for us and set to work rescuing me as I sipped on Prosecco and took full advantage of all the festive foodie goodies laid on for us indulge in.
My first stop was a consultation with Mina the Makeup Artist. I explained that I’d never been able to perfect my eyeliner on account of my hooded eyes making things difficult. “No worries” she said, “let’s see what we can do” and in the space of two minutes I had been given the most perfect cat eye flicks I’d ever seen! I wish she could do them for me everyday but instead settled for a lesson in how to do it myself at home.
Next my hair was transformed into a glossy, red carpet worthy style I hadn’t known it capable of! I pointed out with some embarrassment to my lovely stylist that the ends of my hair were dry and brittle and he diagnosed my habit of curling it everyday with straightening irons as the problem. Oops. He recommended some alternative styling techniques and talked me through the heat protecting/moisture rich styling products that he was using from Percy and Reed.
I was therefore really chuffed to discover one of the products he used (the Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm) in the M&S Beauty Advent Calendar.
Whoops, spoiler alert!
Oh well, I might as well give you a sneaky peek inside it now then shouldn’t I? I won’t reveal all the contents but I’ve picked out five of my favourites below…
…although I can’t help mentioning that in addition to the below you can also expect goodies from Burts Bees, REN and Rodial to name but a few. It was so hard to choose only five! OH and also look out for cult products from the likes of Emma Hardie and Alpha-H. *Cough cough* Morning Cleanser *Cough cough* Liquid Gold!
Here it is in all it’s pretty Christmas tree shaped glory!
There are 25 boxes to open in total, some are full sized, some sample sized, but all are big enough to give you a good chance to try them out. Here are some of my personal favourites:
You might remember me waxing lyrical about the summer version of this oil in this post, so you can imagine how excited I was to find it in the calendar with a substantial 30ml bottle. This is a perfect daytime skincare product to combat the drying effect of Winter heating and leave your skin soft and silky.
I fell in love with this shade the moment I opened the box. It’s just so festive! Plus it’s enriched with Argan Oil and vitamin E to help nourish your nails at the same time. I have a hard time keeping nail polish on for longer than a day without chipping it but this is one of the better ones that I’ve found. It lasted a week with only a few minor top ups required – bravo Autograph!
I was so excited to find a Pixi product in the calendar! I’ve read many rave reviews about the brand so this is a good way to try it out for myself. I haven’t used a brow setting product before but it’s really weightless and light once on and works a treat. Recommended! (This one is sample sized but I’d still expect it to last me several months).
This is Philip Kingsley’s hero product. It’s a pre conditioning treatment that delivers moisture to the hair cuticle to give your hair suppleness and bounce. As mentioned above my hair has been dry and brittle recently and this is helping me to prevent further snapping and breakage.
My on fleek flicks at the event were created with this liquid liner. It’s got a fine, felt tip applicator which I wasn’t sure if I’d get on with (I’ve used a flexible one from L’Oreal for as long as I can remember and have never dared try anything else) but I’m so glad it was included as my flicks have improved considerably since switching to this!
Personally I love this calendar. It’s crammed full of products that I might not ever have gotten around to trying otherwise, some of which I love so much that they have gone straight into my daily routine.
As you might expect, there were also a few items in there that I didn’t need or want. It wasn’t that they were bad products, they just weren’t suitable for me. However I know that my friends and family will happily take them off my hands, so that’s some cheeky stocking fillers sorted!
The M&S Beauty Advent Calendar goes on sale this Thursday 10th November and is £35 when you spend £35 on Beauty, Clothing and Home either in store or online (here). I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a sell out so this is your heads up!
*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post containing PR samples. However as always my views and opinions are honest and my own. This post was an absolute pleasure from start to finish!
