Jurlique Precious Rose Hand Cream

August 5, 2015August 15, 2025 - Vicki 1 Comment

If you’re not already familiar with Jurlique, they’re an Australian brand which was started back in 1985 by a husband & wife dedicated to harnessing the power of nature to create incredibly effective products. Their ethos was Nature + Science = Beauty and to this day Jurlique develop high performance skincare, using potent, biodynamic (Biodynamics is a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture, food production and nutrition), organic and natural ingredients sourced the world over.

Jurlique have an Organic Farm in the Adelaide Hills of Australia where the magic happens and this was the brain child of the founders Dr Jurgen Klien and his wife Ulrike, a Horticulturist and a Botanist with passion for combining nature with science to deliver natural skincare with long-lasting effects. To this day the farm is thriving and its where many of the herbs, flowers and plants are grown for Jurlique’s products.

Jurlique is also a brand with an emphasis on the environment, they are committed to sourcing their ingredients from sustainable fair trade suppliers and use biodegradable & recyclable materials in their packaging. As a brand Jurlique are always helping to support the empowerment of women all over the world with their Ideas Of Beauty Fund which is not for profit, it focuses on supporting ideas that empower and educate women & children globally.

This year sees the brand celebrating 30 successful years and to celebrate their 30th anniversary Jurlique have crafted this special more intense version of their iconic Rose Hand Cream. Using the beautiful and fragrant Alchemist Rose and Pure Rosa Gallica Flower Water, Jurlique have created the Limited Edition Precious Rose Hand Cream*.

For the past 30 years roses have been at the heart of Jurlique’s skin care bestsellers and this limited edition cream is a nod to their heritage. This special new release is truly an indulgent treat for your hands.

The hand cream comes beautifully packaged in a sleek cream tube with red metallic writing and lid, it looks and feels very luxurious. It feels and smells indulgent, the rose scent is intense and beautiful (don’t think old lady, think vibrant and luxurious). I really like rose scented products, and they’re something Jurlique do very, very well, this Precious Rose Hand Cream leaves my hands feeling instantly nourished and visibly smooth, there is no greasy residue left behind at all. If like me, you have very dry hands then this cream will leave them velvety soft, and it provides lasting hydration. After you apply this cream the rose fragrance stays on your hands for quite a while which is lovely.

You get a whopping 150ml of product and for a hand cream that’s a substantial amount, so this is going to last me months. It’s currently sat (looking pretty) on my bedside table and I like to apply it morning and night, taking time to really massage it in to my hands.

So this joins a very long line up of products I like & would recommend you trying, but remember this is limited edition so be quick if you want to treat yourself.

Jurlique Precious Rose Hand Cream* 150ml – £36.00

Products that are marked with an * have either been sent to me for my consideration or I’ve received at events. I’m under no obligation to review them on my blog. However if I do, the reviews are 100% my own.

ban.do Florabunda 17 Month Agenda

August 2, 2015January 14, 2017 - Vicki 7 Comments

I’m not a very organised person, its something I want to get better at and what better place to start than to purchase a pretty planner. I have been hunting for a cute but functional planner for ages & I came across the most beautiful ban.do one in Paperchase, completely by chance. I can’t find a link to it on Paperchase but here it is on the USA Ban.do Shop.

Ban.do are an LA based company that create the cutest bright bold stationery. I have no idea how I’ve only just discovered them, I am late to the party. I now have half of their website on my wishlist, this could get expensive.

I bought the ban.do 17 month large agenda with the Florabunda cover, it cost £25.00 and I love it! The good thing about it is it runs from August 2015 and ends in December 2016, so that means there are no wasted months with me purchasing it more than halfway through 2015, I get to begin planning right away. I’m so excited I have never owned something like this, I have only written a few lists & important dates in so far but I’m hoping to have lots of blog posts planned out for the upcoming months. I want to use it as a blog planner but also as a brief journal / diary of what I do each day. That way I will get the most use from it and there is plenty of space for me to do both.

Do you use a planner & has it helped you organise your life / blog more?

The Florabunda Agenda has a beautifully bright floral patterned hard cover and is spiral bound, I have the larger 8×10 size which is quite large but its a great size if you want just one planner for life, work & I will be using it as a daily diary too. I wanted to make the most of it and so will be using it for everything. Its quite heavy so I won’t be carrying around with me (too much, I will mostly be using it at home and thats why I really like that it lays flat & it can sit open on your desk on a specific page / week to remind you what you have on that week.

This planner is jam packed with the cutest illustrations, inspirational & motivational slogans and there is so much room for you to make notes, plan, organise and keep a track of all those important dates.

So it opens up to a blue sleeve with ‘You are the stars you are the galaxy’ in cute font, – I’ve been keeping stickers and a few lists in the sleeve. All the sections are tabbed so its easy to flick to the month you need and a gold elastic keeps the planner closed when you’re not using it. Oh & like that this planner lays flat which makes it easy to write in & means the spine doesn’t get all creased and damaged.

You get a two page spread at the beginning of each month with uplifting slogans & cute artwork. I love these & my favourites are ‘Being Nice is Cool’ & ‘Your Future Looks Bright’. Each month has two pages for notes which I have been using to make lists & jot down dates that haven’t been finalised.

Then each month has a month to view over two pages and after that you get the standard week over two pages layout. I find this layout gives me enough space but I know the smaller boxes for the weekends are an issue for people, but I’m never that busy at the weekend (homebody) so this layout works fine for me.

There is a page of bright sassy fun stickers to use throughout your planner, I might be in my 30’s but still get excited over stickers. Its a nice fun start to the planner. Then they give you a list of important holidays (American dates) and they have thrown is some cute fun days – like National Piña Colada Day, National Cat Day and National Flower Day!

There are so many little touches / details in this planner, its been so well put together. The quality of the cover and pages is very good, if something has to last you from 17 months you want it to be well made and this ban.do planner certainly feels like good quality.

I didn’t want to give too much away in the photos, but there are quite a few reviews of these planners online if you want a more in depth look at all the pages. Ban.do summarise this planner with some great bullet points,

17-MONTH AGENDA (AUG 2015 – DEC 2016)
GLOSSY PAPER-WRAPPED HARD COVER
SPIRAL-BOUND, LAY FLAT DESIGN
ELASTIC BAND CLOSURE
DOUBLE-SIDED POCKET PAGE
THE CUTEST STICKER PAGE OF ALL TIME (WITH EXTRA STICKERS!)
COLOR-CODED MONTH TABS
CHEERFUL ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT
FUN TO-DO’S FOR EACH WEEKEND
A BUNCH OF SPECIAL HOLIDAYS

Let me know what planner you use & I will do an updated post in a couple of months to let you know if I am in fact more organised & if I have been keeping up to date with filling it in. Wish me luck.

*Update – December 2016. My planner is out of stock but a UK seller does have a range of Ban.do merchandise

ESPA Skincare

July 31, 2015January 8, 2018 - Vicki 2 Comments

ESPA are inviting you to discover #SummerBeauty with their Little Book of Summer Beauty. You get three deluxe samples and a book that’s jam-packed with tips and tricks on how to maximise the benefits of your ESPA products. If you’re looking to update your beauty routine for the warmer months then The Book of Summer Beauty limited edition Summer Collection* £25.00 is perfect.

The Book of Summer Beauty is a limited edition Summer Collection and includes three award winning products to help you look and feel your best al Summer long. I have tried quite a few ESPA products over the years and I adore their Optimal Skin Pro Serum so I’m excited to see that included in this collection. You get a deluxe sample size 10ml so I’m going to take it away with me on my mini break to Scotland. I like to use it as part of my evening skincare routine, it leaves my skin looking radiant and helps reduce redness and the signs of fatigue. Some of the skin transforming ingredients and benefits are,

Omega 3,6 and 9 Rosehip and Echium Oils nourish your skin

Turmeric Root Extract increases luminosity and evens skin tone

White Lupin Extract helps prevent the signs of ageing

Balloon Plant Extract calms and soothes

This ESPA product has to be my number one must have – its not targeted at a specific age or skin type which I like, its ideal for anyone that wants their skin to look glowing and feel nourished. I can’t recommend it enough.

The trio also includes their 24 Hour Replenishing Moisturiser 15ml which I have yet to try – they say it is ‘Radiant youthful skin in a jar‘ sounds ideal. ESPA say your moisturiser is at the heart of every beauty routine and I agree with that. Get your moisturiser wrong and your skin can look dull, dehydrated and just not its best. This moisturiser is packed full of treats for your skin –

Jojoba and Evening Primrose deeply hydrate

Myrth Frankincense and Neroli help stimulate cell renewal

Antioxidents help prevent early signs of ageing

Vitamin E rich Peach Kernel Oil help protect against environmental aggressors

So this cream is going to nourish and protect your skin, I can’t wait to use it as part of my morning skincare routine and it is coming with me to Scotland too as I will be by the coast and often the sea air dries my skin out.

The Pink Hair and Scalp Mud 55ml has me very excited. If I’m honest my hair seems to get neglected I pamper my skin but never really take time to do hair masks or treatments so this is going to be a nice treat for my hair & scalp. The Summer is when my hair can get very dry & I tend to only wash my hair twice a week so I think my scalp is in much need of some TLC.

As you would expect from ESPA it has lots of beneficial ingredients to protect your locks from the effects of Chlorine, pollution, sea and sun all things that stress not only our skin but also our hair.

Red Clay stimulates circulation to the scalp improving hair growth

Apricot, Bergamot and Orange Oils nourish and aid manageability and gloss

Vitamin C rich Watercress helps to soothe your scalp.

The Little Book Of Summer Beauty recommends using this mask on your skin to ward off stretch marks & nourish and soothe very dry skin so its a multi tasking marvel! Love products that you can use in more than one way they’re great to take away with you. Oh & its pink – how cute is that!

If you have any Summer Beauty tip & tricks let me know below. My tip would be to put a face oil under your face mask for an extra luxurious facial. It leaves your skin so nourished and feeling so soft. #SummerBeauty

KIKO Purchases from Amsterdam

July 29, 2015July 30, 2015 - Vicki 8 Comments

I have wanted to try some products from KIKO for so long, if you didn’t already know, KIKO is an Italian makeup brand & although there are a a few KIKO shops in the UK they’re quite hard for me to get to. So I was very excited to stumble across a small (but cute) KIKO shop in Amsterdam Centraal Train Station and even more exciting was the 50% sale. I didn’t buy much because many of the shades I wanted had sold out & If I’m honest with myself I really don’t need any more makeup, that being said I couldn’t leave empty handed.

Kiko Makeup Haul

They had so many cute Summer releases but I didn’t need any more bronzers or bright eyeliners so I opted for a Facial SPF50 Solid Sunscreen Stick, this KIKO one I thought was not only cute being in pink packaging but it is a solid stick so easy for travel and carrying with you on the go so you can reapply it throughout the day. I’ve only used it twice but its easy to apply, and it feels OK on the skin. Not greasy or slippy, it doesn’t leave a white cast and makeup sits well on top. I swipe it on my face straight from the stick and then I blend it out with my fingers to make sure I get good coverage all over my face. It is SPF50 UVA & UVB Protection so my skin is in good hands. This was half price at 4 Euro. Bargain!

Kiko Summer Haul

I bought 2 of their Long Lasting Wet & Dry Use Eyeshadows, I wanted a few more but they had a limited shade selection by the time I got there. These look very much like the NARS Dual Intensity Eyeshadows but a fraction of the price. I bought the shades 207 – which looks more green in the pan but once swatched it looks more brown with a grey undertone. 205 is my favourite of the two and in the pan it looks like a plum but swatched it looks like a deep brown with a slight rusty copper finish. I love these and the colours are so pigmented both wet & dry. The colour lasts so much longer if you apply it wet and its so intense. I wish they had more shades left but sadly they seemed to be popular & I found these by chance amongst the face wipes. Score!

The packaging of these is also very NARS. They are in robust sleek black packaging and do come with a mirror which is cute and handy. Its sturdy and feels quite luxurious too.

KIKO Eyeshadow Swatches KIKO Longlasting Eyeshadows

They also had a great selection of makeup wipes but I saw these KIKO Summer Wipes and thought they looked and sounded unusual. They are for cleansing and refreshing your skin after you have been in the sea, they have salt water dissolving ingredients. I have never seen anything like them before & I now need to swim in the sea so I can test them out. You get 20 wipes in a pack and they are come in a foil pack with a really great plastic seal so your wipes won’t dry out. These were half price at 5 Euro.

KIKO Summer Wipes

So thats my modest KIKO haul, let me know if you have tried any of my purchases or better still if you have any KIKO product recomendations for me. Its a really affordable brand but they don’t seem to compromise on quality which I really like. I’m excited to use my purchases a little more and also try some of your recomendations.

If you’d like to know where your nearest KIKO store is in the UK just click through to the – KIKO Store Locator

Let's talk beauty

Unbiased beauty product reviews & tips

Jurlique Precious Rose Hand Cream

ban.do Florabunda 17 Month Agenda

ESPA Skincare

KIKO Purchases from Amsterdam