It's my duty to do duty free

I love to travel!!! I love to travel for many reasons - visiting new places or old familiar ones, experiencing new cultures and adventures, tasting new food and meeting interesting people. Now this might be just me - but I also really like airports, particularly the bigger ones. It's such an exciting place - it's a crossroads with people coming and going, filled with anticipation and excitement, loved ones waiting and of course this shopping heaven on earth called - DUTY FREE!

When I was traveling to spend a few days with my family last week I went a little NUTS in the duty free. I take no responsibility for this at all - in fact I blame it on a few things; unfortunately Him Indoors couldn't come with me so I felt a little bit sorry for myself, and the other thing is that I don't exactly love flying. I'm what you might call a nervous flyer, and shopping may not calm my nerves but it does keep my mind of things! Because I got so much stuff, I thought I would do something I have never done before - and that is a haul post. 

Let's start with the scentsationals since a few of them happened to fall into my basket as I was walking by. I'm going to start with the DKNY Energizing EdT For Fall which is a very new fragrance - in fact I haven't been able to find a link to it yet online, but I was told that it should be released in the UK about now. I was immediately drawn to the beautiful, sleek golden bottle and it smells divine. It's a completely unexpected warm, spicy and fruity fragrance that's just intoxicating. It's a subtle mix of zesty mandarin and citrus, subtle white and delicate flowers like jasmin and magnolia, warm seductive musk, green vetiver and for me the best bit is the slightly oriental wintery cardamom. I just couldn't resist it!

The other scent I got is La Prairie's Midnight Rain. This is another warm, fruity and slightly woody scent - can you see a pattern here? It also starts as a mellow fruity perfume with guava and mandarin, then it transforms with white flowers like freesia and white lily from youthful to more womanly. Finally again we have musk, vetiver and a very subtle touch of patchouli that makes it slightly mysterious and sensual - yum, yum.

I knew all along that I would pick up something from Victoria's Secret although I hadn't decided exactly what to get. In the end I decided on the Hello Darling Fragrance Mist which is nothing like the other two fragrances. Like most of the VS Fantasies scents it's a very light and fun combination of white nectarine and fresh peony that I thought would go really well as a body spray, layered with my Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede Cologne. It is delicious although the scent doesn't last very long, even the assistant had the good grace to say so, but having to re-apply it is a small price to pay to smell luscious.

The only skin care product I got was Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado which I have had on my list of things to try for a long time. I haven't opened it yet since I'm still working on my current eye cream, so I will do a more detailed review of this in a month or so when I've had a chance to test it properly. What I can tell you is that this is one of Kiehl's best sellers and it's supposed to be a very rich cream that adds intense moisture to the under eye area and that also protects the skin against all external stress factors. Well - we'll see about that!

So on to makeup - the first product I picked up was MAC's Lipstick in Vegas Volt. I'm still very much a novice when it comes to MAC, and in fact this was only my 2nd lipstick from them. I have a long list of shades that I want to try, but since I'm working my way through a lot of other products as well - it'll take a little while to get them all. I had done a lot of research on shades that I think I would like and Vegas Volt has always stood out for me as a gorgeous rich coral that packs a punch, and I can't wait to try it on and get back to you on what I think about it.

On my shopping list I also had a few YSL products and I picked up a mascara and a lip stain. I had heard so much about the Volume Effet Faux Cils Baby Doll Mascara that I just had to get one, and after much discussion with the assistant I actually got it in Wheedler Brown rather than black. I haven't worn a brown mascara for a while and I wanted to see if there's any noticeable difference and I'm also excited to see if Baby Doll really does create that lash by lash volume effect and how it wears throughout the day. In general my experience of YSL products is excellent and my expectations of this little baby are sky high and I hope I wont be disappointed. 

The second YSL item I got was the Vernis à Lèvres Glossy Stain in 12 Corail Fauve. This is another item that you probably have seen mentioned in other blogs and may already have tried yourself, so of course I have to try that as well to see for myself what everyone's talking about. It's a gorgeous pinky coral shade that should go with A/W looks too, and when I swatched it at the airport it looked like it had an amazing glossy finish. All the YSL products are so luxuriously packaged that it feels like a real treat to get them, and although I haven't tried them yet I don't think I'll be let down by any of them. 

The last item in this shopping bonanza is the Dior 5 Couleurs Mystic Metallics in 864 Constellation from the A/W collection. I know it's another little palette of sorts but even though these shades are metallic they are also trend neutral, so I know I will be able to wear them even after the metallic craze has come and gone. Constellation contains 3 neutral shades (1 shimmery + 2 matte), and 2 shades in violet and silvery green - both shimmery metallic. It's such a pretty little mix and I'm looking forward to creating different looks combining the matte and the shimmery shades and I suspect the violet will be a new favourite of mine.

I hope you liked this post and as you know I welcome all feedback, so please let me know in the comments what you think, and if you'd like to see more of these haul type posts.