Beauty Bus

The prestigious department store Debenhams has some extremely good news for all you fashionistas. The department store have recently announced they are offering every customer Duty Free prices on over two hundred skincare, cosmetics and fragrance products throughout the store. The best news is we don’t have to wait long for these offers to begin as they are hitting stores in the very near future!

Debenhams have stated the reasoning behind this fantastic offer is that they wanted to give all their customers a boot start to the summer season and how else better to do this than offer a range of duty free prices on an array of wonderful quality and first class beauty buys and cosmetics. Sara Stern is currently the stores Director of Beauty Merchandising at Debenhams and is also the name behind such fabulous offers.

Brands that feature in the offer include the likes of Estee Lauder, Lancome, Ralph Lauren, Clinique, St Tropez, Elizabeth Arden, Calvin Klein, Benefit and Givenchy and these are just a few of the labels featured in the Duty Free offer.

The offer will be ongoing until the 28 July so you better hurry and we are sure products are already flying off the shelves.

Examples of such savings to be made are as follows; Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream was originally priced at £75, but now it is available to purchase at a price of only £63.82, saving customers £11.82 in total.

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm was £26.50 and is now £22.25, saving customers £3.95 on this product.

Marc Jacobs Lola Eau de Parfum in a size of 50ml was originally £45but you can now save an amount of £6.71 as it has been reduced to £38.29.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream was £18 and is now £15, which saves customers £2.69 and Lancome Flash Bronzer Leg Gel which was originally priced at £21.50 and now £18.29, saving £3.21. Benefit Sugarbomb Blush was £23.50 and is now £20, saving a total of £3.50.

You now no longer need to wait till the airport to grab those summer deals!

It can certainly be a little tricky to stay looking super fresh and right on trend whilst squatting in a field for a weekend or more, but here are a few handy tips to help you on your way! One such tip is to stay ‘au natural’ for the weekend, especially when you only have a miniscule compact to work with. This certainly doesn’t entail a complete make-up ban, but instead just pick a few easy to apply products that are both low maintenance and light weight.

With less to carry, less to apply and less to work with, there will certainly be more time to catch all those must see singing acts for 2010! Lipstick is one such make up product that won’t take up hardly any room in your bag but will also instantly update and refresh a look. Throw a few in your handbag in statement summer hues, hot oranges and dramatic reds are big for this season and as summer is here, both shades are perfect for day and night. They can easily slip in your back pocket and can be re-applyed when and as you require.

Team with a little highlighter and a cheek blush in a bronze shade, adding a little colour to a tired complexion will create a healthy sun-kissed glow. Throw on a pair of shades and you are good to go!

With the summer season fast approaching its time to put away the winter boots and heels and get out the cutesy sandals and open toed wedges. This all sounds great but we’ve been hiding out tootsies in heavy boots for the last couple of months, polish is chipped, feet are dry and heels are cracked. It time for a little maintenance and this maintenance comes in the shape of an emergency pedicure.

Step one is to tackle that hard skin, Margaret Dabbs offers a Surgical Pedicure which is priced at £75 for 90 minutes and boasts to banish the problem skin by using a variety of tools to file and slice away the unwanted areas. Once for feet are smooth and silky, a trained pedicurist will paint your toes in a shade of your choice whilst you chill out in the oxygen capsule. Those who opt for this treatment will leave feeling full of energy and ready to get those sandals out.

Cracked skin is another common problem and can leave feet feeling sore and looking unsightly. For £90 you can opt for the Nevilles Acid Pedicure, which lasts a total of 90 minutes. The procedure involves soaking the feet in skin friendly eucalyptus oil, the next step requires trimming the nails in order to prepare them for the acid peel. Any dead and unwanted skin is scraped and filed away then the feet are injected with a surge of moisture using a moistening product from the Jessica range. The final step is a coat of pretty polish in a colour of your choice; the result is toes that are ready for the summer!

If you have been searching for that perfect summer scent then look no further than colognes, eaux and splashes. The popular fragrances this season seem to be fresh, simple and light and compliment this year’s nude and blush attire perfectly.

The winter months and evenings are more suited to the sweet, powerful and lingering aromas that exist on the market, however for summer, a scent that is both transparent and natural is much more apt. Choose an approachable and welcoming breezy fragrance blended from citrus, herbal and fruity notes. Calvin Klein Escape and L’Eau d’Issey both offer such notes and have a certain sense of escape, wakening up memories of the sea and fresh air. Other natural infusions that offer woody notes and floral elements include Chloe’s Eaux de Fleurs, Guerlin’s Aqua Allegoria, Marc Jacob’s Splashes and Prada’s Infusions. All echo a cleansing palette with a crisp edge and offer a certain element of nature rather than something that has been created in a lab.

If you still wish to a acquire that fresh, light and natural scent but one that lasts, opt for a ‘eau fraiche’ as appose to a cologne. Perfumes with citrus notes often last longer and brands such as Dior and Lancome have a variety of fragrances offering such notes on the market.

Many brands often offer summer versions of their standard perfumes; these particular scents take away the base notes and heavy floral elements and instead build up the citrus notes. Stella McCartney Sheer Stella Organic Rose Limited Edition is one such example and can be obtained for a price of £6.50. Chanel also a summer version of No5, entitled ‘No5 Eau Premiere’ and can be purchased for a price of £65.

Intense and bright shades are big on the catwalk this season, adorning both the eyes and lips but if you are not quite daring enough to do both, opt for a statement colour on the eyes and a nude shade on the lips or vice versa.

This is certainly a look that is great for evening, vivid oranges and bright blues really bring out the eyes and will definitely cause a statement. For best results apply to both the eyelid and the eye socket, finishing by blending the product up towards the brow bone. A coat of intense black mascara will really bring out the eyes.

If you desire to work this look throughout the day, colour should be used more sparingly and a slick coat of liner in a bright shade blended both above and below the lash line will suffice in creating a more subtle look that is still right on trend for the summer. Bright blues and vivid greens are very much this season or alternatively opt for an ice blue shade on the lower lash line, this will create a hint of sparkle and highlight the eyes.

Tangerine shades on the lips have been seen adorning the models at the Chanel shows and are certainly a big hit for 2010; an added bonus is that this shade also suits an array of complexions. For a fresh finish opt for the new felt-tip style lip stains or alternatively a glossy and in your face lip-gloss for an instant injection of colour and sparklle.

Now that the sun has finally decided to make an appearance so have the short skirts, tiny hot pants and thigh skimming dresses. The first step of your beauty regime when baring your body should be to de-fuzz.

The skin care brand Veet certainly has a wide range of hair removal creams, potions and lotions, which will work to achieve the perfect summer body. The brand even have a sensitive skin care range in the shape of a hair removal cream which contains the skin friendly ingredient aloe vera as well as vitamin E. Other products suitable for those with sensitive skin include the Veet hair removal strips which house an array of soothing elements such as soothing almond oil and again vitamin E.

All the products in the range are the perfect items to stock up on for the summer, as they will leave your skin both hydrated with moisture and hair free. Legs, under arms and bikini lines will appear smooth and silky to touch. This appearance will last for days meaning you can dig out all those summer outfits that have been hiding at the bottom of the wardrobe and wear them with confidence.

For best results and prior to using any of the Veet hair removal products it is recommended that you exfoliate the skin well before applying the formula.

Each item in the range is housed in a baby blue and fuchsia casing which won’t look out of place in any girl’s bathroom. The label is available from most beauty counters and stores nationwide.

This particular range from the Body Shop includes an array of misty spring shades which combine pliable, muted textures with an inventive format. The collection includes a range of shimmering eye colours all housed in a cube eye palette.

This product can be purchased at a price of £16 from and Body shop store nationwide. The shimmer cubes are also suitable for those with extremely sensitive skin as the luminous eye powders contain a moisturising ingredient in the shape of community trade marula oil. These particular elements aid to both rejuvenate and restore the delicate skin around the eye area with a surge of much-needed moisture.

The Shimmer Cubes palette contains four colour compartments which include an array of enticing and on trend shades, these are Sparkly Sky, Hushed Orchid, Sea Shell and Emerald Sea. All the colours are housed within one cube, making it the perfect sized product for a handbag. The compacted powder palette won’t spill or leak due to the cleverly designed casing.

The entire palette is suitable for medium to dark skin tones; however the Sea Shell and Orchid shades work extremely well on those with pale complexions.

This is a great product for those who enjoy playing with different colour and will certainly exaggerate the eyes. Each shade is right on trend for summer and will be the perfect look to work on any holidays you have planned.

Each shadow is suitable for both day and night. For a more intense evening look simply reapply until the desired effect is achieved.

With summer fast approaching and an array of pretty sandals staring at us from every shop window, its time to get those toes in top condition. Every year different shades of polish take centre stage. This season has certainly revealed hues of greige to be a huge hit on the catwalk. But now it is almost the summer season and brighter tones in the shape of cool aqua’s, spicy corals, soft nudes and intense high shine blacks are proving to be all the rage.

It’s time to opt for a daring pedicure painted in an over the top statement red or vivid orange. When deciding on a nail polish, you should always aim to purchase a lacquer that contains a high amount of pigment, especially when regarding this season’s trends. The full impact shades of this season are taking over the Sheer shades of last.

Maybelline Express Finish Lacquer in Cherry is one such shade that is perfect for summer and boasts to be extremely quick and easy to apply. This particular polish from Maybelline offers professional salon looking results and promises to dry in an impressive forty seconds. This is the perfect product if you are in a rush but still desire perfect looking nails.

This chip resistant nail polish houses shock control technology and only requires one coat of polish in order to achieve full coverage. The product comes with an ultra precise control-flow applicator which prevents users from making mistakes.

The Maybelline Express Finish Lacquer is priced at £3.49 and can be purchased from all beauty stores that house the Maybelline brand.