Presents from Paris

my parents recently came back from their 30th anniversary trip to europe and while they didn't feel the need to take me with them (despite all those hints i dropped) they did bring back lots of presents! i sent my mum off with a list of skincare and makeup to look out for in case she could find things cheaper in the shops than they are online and she managed to buy most of the things on the list along with a few surprises from guerlain.

it's a tradition for me to get a new bottle of perfume whenever my parents go overseas (i'm a bit perfume obsessed let's be honest) and although i'd never smelled guerlain's la petite robe noire before my mum chose it for me and i love it. when she was buying it the sales assistant told her the 100ml bottle also came in a gift set with the body lotion (or ~velvet body milk~) for the same price, so of course she bought the set. it's really quite a warm fragrance with a creamy, floral base of rose, almond and vanilla and with fruity top notes of sour cherry and bergamont. and of course the packaging is just beautiful. she also surprised me with a bottle of guerlain's meteorites base perfectrice pearls which is a light diffusing illuminating primer that, apart from having a really cool name, is also absolutely beautiful! i'm the adoring owner of paul & joe's bon bon primer which i'll write a post about in the near future, and i'd proudly shown it to my mum before she left because it might be the prettiest thing i've ever owned, so when she saw the guerlain version while away she must have been feeling generous because she bought the pink version for me!

as for the products i'd asked for, i'm sure none of them really need any introduction to beauty-obsessed bloggers as they seem to be pretty standard items that i needed to add to my collection, but they the caudalie vinosourse SOS thirst quenching serum for added hydration, the REN glycolactic skin renewal peel mask for a weekly chemical exfoliation boost and two tubes of the la roche-posay effaclar duo for general skin decongestion. i'd also asked for MAC's ruby woo which is a fairly standard colour, i know, but they have so many options and i wanted to keep it simple for my mum's sake. she actually bought me two of them because they were a reasonable 16€ which shows how ridiculously overpriced they are here at around the $40 mark. as for the sweetest gift of all, my parents flew home from paris and my mum bought a box of laduree maracons at the airport. unfortunately the macarons are long gone but i have this beautiful box to add to my little collection.