Kiehl's Launch in Arnotts

This morning I braved the horrible weather to attend the launch of the Kiehl's boutique in Arnotts, their first Irish department store home. Being a brand that I love, I was super excited to get invited to this event. I'm a big fan of their Creme De Corps Whipped Soy & Honey Souffle. I've been using it none stop since I bought the stuff and it smells amazing. I featured it one of my Summer Must Haves/Essentials posts a while back if you want to see what the product is like.The location of their boutique is great, it's just as you walk into the Arnotts Beauty Hall on the right, you can't miss it. We were welcomed into the store at half  8 and greeted by the lovely counter manager Donna, who knew her stuff about each and every product. I only found out today that Kiehl's have their own recycling program, if you bring back empty products to the store you get stamps on a card. After your first two stamps you get a luxury sample and if you fill up the card you get a full sized cleanser which is pretty sweet in my opinion. I don't know why I'm only finding out about these amazing programs now. Kiehl's also have a "try before you buy" policy which means if your not sure about the product while your in store they'll give you a sample to take home. I think this is a super idea as I hate nothing more than rushing into purchase which leads me onto their 100% money back guarantee. Kiehl's put a lot of trust into their products and so they should, I've bought may products from the brand and I've never been left disappointed. On the other hand if you haven't gotten on well with the product you can bring it back to the store which is a policy that not many stores have. After chatting to Donna about the products we went up and had breakfast in Clodagh's Kitchen which is a gorgeous restaurant that offers the most amazing handmade food. There was a choice between scones and croissants with yummy homemade jam, I decided to be bold and had the latter which taste so good.

After having some light breakfast I went back downstairs to the Kiehl's boutique, where Donna gave me a touch consultation which I found very interesting. I was recommended quite a few products from their range so I can't wait to pop in after I get paid. I already have my eye on the Midnight Recovery Concentrate and Eye Cream, they both sound amazing. When I was working in Molton Brown, one of the girls in Kiehl's across the way told me how Lea Michele came into their store and bought two bottles of this when the Glee Tour came to Ireland. If it's good enough for her it's good enough for me, I doubt I'd have the funds for two bottles though.

Is Kiehl's a brand your familiar with? What products have you tried?

Laura<3

Summer Must Haves/Essentials #3 - My Saviours for Dry Skin

The weather has been quite changeable in Ireland lately as a result my skin hasn't been the best. It's been horribly dry on my elbows, legs and arms. To try to combat this I've been switching between two body moisturisers. I've only got into using body creams as of late, don't get me wrong I've used them before but not as regularly as I do now.

One of the products that I'm going talk a bit more about was already featured in my July Favourites. I'm going to start off with the other body moisturiser I've been loving this month and that's Yes to Carrots Intense Softening Body Lotion for  extra-dry skin*. I wouldn't be familiar with many products from this brand as I've never tried them before. I've heard pretty good things about the range from my Nana, she's absolutely in love with their products. She a big fan of their cleanser and day/night moisturisers from the line. The Yes to.. brand have lots of different lines like Cucumber, Tomato and Blueberries which all target different skin types e.g. oily, dry etc. I really want to try the Tomato range but I haven't seen it anywhere in Dublin which is odd as they stock everything else. As my first product the Intense Softening Body Lotion has impressed me considerably. It comes in a 170g tube which is huge and as it's mainly for problem dry areas this is sure to last ages. The product itself is quite thick so I only take the tiniest bit, I've been using this mostly on my elbow. I had psoriasis a couple of years ago and that part of my body still tend to get dry from it and this has been helping it alot. Alot of people will be happy to hear that this product is 99% Natural and contains no SLS or Petroleum, nothing nasty at all insight. After using this on my skin, it was left feeling lovely and soft even though it is an intense lotion it does dry into your skin fairly quick which gets major brownie points with me. I always see the Yes to Carrot range on special so I'm pretty sure you can get this product for in and around the €7/€8 mark which for me is great value as it's such a big tube. My other skin saviour was featured in my July favourites post. At €53 for 340g, Kiehl's Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter is alot more on the expensive side of things. I'd been wanting to get this for a while before I caved in and finally bought it. The Kiehl's staff in my local store Dundrum really know there stuff so I was pleased when I was buying it in the end as it was definitely what I was looking for. There was a 20% off event on aswell when I bought this so the product was reduced for the day to €42.40 which certainly helped me make my decision. Being from the Creme De Corps line, I had high hopes for Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter. I'd tried the original cult body and fell in love with it right away so this product had to hit a high note with me. In the end I'm so happy I bought this as it's such a nice treat for my skin. It's a thick yellow cream that smells absolutely heavenly I adore the scent I could sit here and smell it as I write this post no problem. I've been using this alot since I bought it, with the body butter itself being so thick I only need a small amount as a little bit spreads over the skin alot. This means that  the tub (which is huge by the way) is still pretty much full, it seriously looks like I've used hardly any. When applying this whipped butter be warned it does take that little bit longer to seek in but once it does it leaves your skin smelling yummy and feeling hydrated. All in all I've enjoyed using both these products, if your looking for a bargain I'd definitely go for the Yes to Carrot offering and if you want to go that extra mile, treat yourself at payday to the luxurious Kiehl's Whipped Body Butter, you won't regret it. If you don't want to fork out on this giant tub there's also a smaller one to choose from, I'm not too sure of the price off the top of my head but from what I can remember it's not considerably cheaper.

Have you tried anything from either of these brands? What are your dry skin saviours?

Laura<3