Show Her You Care... Not just for Valentine’s Day.

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Show Her You Care... Not just for Valentine’s Day.

So, Valentine’s Day has been and gone for another year, but I always think it’s a little strange that we need to have one day set aside to remind our loved one how much we care – surely if you love someone you love them for more than a day... Unless we’re using the biblical sense, in which case yes, a day or even a few hours is sometimes all that’s necessary! I digress, my point is that there’s never a bad time to give the woman in your life something that shows how much she means to you. Finding a gift that actually shows some thought is the real key to success, regardless of price or romantic connotations, so we’ve put together a list of gifts that us girls at The Detour would love to open from our own lovely lads in the hope that we can inspire just one or two of you to look beyond the marketing hype and buy a gift that really matters.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Body Cream 200ml £49.00 – I love Elemis products; they’re largely natural, wholly ethical, smell great and work a treat, so I can’t think of a better place to look for I gift that says you care. There’s a veritable feast to choose from, but my personal favourite for the present is the Pro-Collagen Body Cream. Now, you sensitive souls out there may be a tad wary of offering an anti-ageing cream to the love of your life, but believe me, she will love it! Based on a ‘unique complex’ created around Mexican skin tree (a proven cellular regenerator packed with flavinoids to diminish capillary permeability, increase resistance and protect against the environmental causes of ageing), amino acids to stop the skin from breaking down, and a blend of padina pavonica (a form of algae) with exotic babassu, castanha and bilberry seed oils to plump the skin and firm and tone the body. After just a few uses your lovely lady love will have skin so soft and beautiful that she’ll positively glow and you’ll have to stop her trying to show it off!

Elemis Pro-Collagen Body Cream is available at all Elemis counters and online at www.timetospa.co.uk.

Lanvin Marry Me! 30ml £33.00 - Valentine's is traditionally the day when a vast number of people pop the question, but if you didn't manage to pluck up the courage and are still feeling that way inclined but are slightly concerned that nerves will get the better of you, Lanvin have kindly taken the time to bottle up all of your feelings of heartfelt delight and downright lust and expressed them in a scent full of floral charm, vibrant citrus (although I'm sure not the only person to notice the irony of a romanic scent containing Bitter Orange?) and a deep musky base note. Presented in a beautiful art deco inspired bottle enclosed in the simplest of boxes this is a cute little gift perfect for the woman you love. The scent itself is warm and soft yet effervescent, leaving a sparkle in the eye and a spring in the step without being overtly girly. The top notes of White Peach, Freesias and Bitter Orange are grounded with the fresh green heart notes of Sambac Jasmin and Magnoila before fading away into a Musk, White Cedar and Amber drydown. The name may make this fragrabce inaccessible to some, but the scent suits the sentiment perfectly.

Lanvin Marry Me! is available from all Lanvin counters and online: www.escentual.com/lanvin.

Arbonne Lipstick £17.00 – Feel like sucking up? (No pun intended) Show that you really do pay attention to everything that your dear one likes to witter on about and surprise her with a top end lipstick in her favourite colour. Arbonne are something of an exclusive brand, if for no other reason that their products are not that easy to find – you won’t find them on a Boots counter, you won’t even find them in Harrods, in fact back in the BI (Before Internet) years I really don’t know where you would have found any at all, unless you happened to live in one of the lucky areas visited by Arbonne consultants – so any Arbonne item makes for a lovely gift. The recently released long-wearing, feather resistant lipstick is no exception. Deeply hydrating and available in a dazzling range of twenty-one intense colours, this lipstick glides on smoothly for a flawless finish, creating perfectly ravishable lips that you’ll be desperate to smudge all evening.

Arbonne were one of the first cosmetics companies to shun modern manufacturing practises and embrace botanical sources to create their products. For more information and to purchase Arbonne products visit www.arbonneinternational.co.uk.

Guinot Hydrazone Corps Moisturising Body Lotion 200ml £33.00 – On first thoughts, a bottle of moisturiser may not seem like the most exciting or romantic of presents, but giving the gift of beautiful skin is no mean thing and almost every woman will appreciate the gesture. Guinot’s Hydrazone Corps Moisturising Body Lotion uses the must-have skincare ingredient of the moment - Moroccan Argan Oil - to provide our largest organ with all the essential lipids and hydration it needs to defend itself against the elements, repair damage and generate new cells. Often referred to as ‘liquid gold’ Argan Oil is packed with Vitamin E, essential fatty acids and antioxidants that work to retard the impact that environmental pollutants have on our skin and so keeps you looking younger for longer. After just a few days use skin will feel ever so soft and ever so silky and will be positively glowing with health.

Guinot products can be purchased from a wide variety of beauty counters and online. For more information visit  www.guinot.com.  

Geodesis Rose Ambience Reed Diffuser 200ml £35.00 – Elegant, attractive and gorgeously scented, reed diffusers have become the must-have decorative touch for all urban dwellers, bringing as they do, a delicate touch of the country into the home in a clean, minimalist format, without the cloying aroma or smoky stains of a scented candle and Geodesis have become the masters of the craft. Founded in 1997, Geodesis was born ‘from the idea of associating a fragrance with a region of the world,’ from the Mexican Tuberose to Chinese Tea plantations, with the use of the highest quality ingredients. With fifteen fragrances to choose from, a reed diffuser could make a most thoughtful gift, whether by selecting your lover’s favourite scent or by choosing a scent that evokes a certain place or time of importance to the two of you. Simple to use, lasting and personal.

Geodesis Reed Diffusers are available from all John Lewis stores and online at www.geodesis.com.

Boots No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Day Hand Cream £11.50 – If the love of your life works with her hands, then hand cream is possibly the most thoughtful gift you could give. With friends and family members working as nurses, chefs, kitchen assistants, gardeners, and a long-term sufferer of dry skin myself, I’m more than familiar with the perils of hand-washing, particularly in winter. And I know the relief and joy a good hand moisturiser can bring. As the name would suggest, Protect & Perfect is designed to defend hands against the elements and reduce and reverse the visible signs of ageing. Offering both SPF15 and 5-star UVA technology to protect against sun damage (not necessarily just the reserve of summer), as well as ‘No7’s patented anti-oxidant complex’ to fight free-radicals, rejuvenating Ginkgo Biloba, skin firming pro-retinol complex of lipopeptides and Alfalfa Extract, Lupinus Albus seed extract to aid collagen production and Glycerin to help the skin absorb all the goodness, Protect & Perfect will leave hands feeling very happy and looking their very best.

Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Day Hand Cream is available from selected Boots stores and online at www.Boots.com.

Docteur Renaud Cosmekit Raspberry Hydrating Programme £29.00 – I’ve only recently discovered Docteur Renaud, but I’m already a little bit in love with the products. The philosophy behind the brand is ‘natural cosmetology’; using natural ingredients procured from fruits, vegetables and flowers and using them to create fabulous cosmetics and skin care products ‘that make women happy.’ The Cosmekit is a particularly cute idea, allowing for a sort of DIY approach to pampering. Incredibly simple to use, each kit comes complete with all you need to create your own mini spa treatment, from the ingredients, down to shaker and spatula. Beginning with the ‘ultra gourmand’ Raspberry Exfoliating Gel, which uses fine particles of raspberry seeds and jojoba beads to prime the skin for the Raspberry Massage Cream, and finishing with a lovely creamy Raspberry Foaming Mask, the kit is crammed with natural ingredients, including soothing Aloe Vera and hydrating Rice Ceramides, which moisturise, plump and invigorate the skin. This makes a fabulous gift for a friend or lover and is great fun for a girly night in.

You can purchase the Docteur Renaud Cosmekit Raspberry Hydrating Programme from www.doctor-renaud.co.uk.

NEOM Organic Treatment Candle £37.50 – Positively packed with essential oils, the vision behind NEOM candles (and other products) is that they can be used as a form of holistic therapy, bringing a touch of serenity into modern life. The people behind the brand are ‘strongly opposed to synthetic scents and harsh ingredients, while believing that beauty should be about spoiling yourself, fabulous scents and utter indulgence,’ so they have worked with organic ingredients to create a range of products designed to relax, energise and improve your mood, depending on your particular need. The candles are made using only vegetable wax and pure essential oils, so that they burn without releasing harmful pollutants, toxins or soot and burn for a whopping 55 hours.  The candles are slightly on the expensive side, but what price the pleasure of the woman you love?!  And I have to say that the difference between NEOM scents and the synthetic fragrances one finds in most candles is staggering – no perfume headaches here. Complete Bliss: Happiness, with its gorgeous blend of Moroccan Blush Rose, Black Pepper and Lime is my favourite; clean and light, but somehow sensual with it, but there are many enticing combinations to choose from.

You can purchase NEOM Organic Treatment Candles from www.neomorganics.com.


If you've tried any of these products do let me know, I'd love to hear your opinion :)

 © Purple Peccadilloes