Complimentary Beauty Treatments at House of Fraser | My treatment at Origins

Going into town this weekend? Pop into your local House of Fraser for a complimentary beauty treatment!

I posted a few weeks ago about the huge amount of brands that you can access all under one roof at the department store House of Fraser which you can read about here.

It was an eye opener to see that you can get all of your favourite brands in one place, so when I was invited back to enjoy a treatment by one of their luxury brands I couldn’t say no!

A bunch of bloggers were invited to each try out a treatment at a different brand, and I was selected to enjoy a facial at the Origins counter.

We were greeted at the event with a glass of prosecco and a jam packed pink goodie bag which is always a welcome start!  I was a little early for my treatment so I had a wander round the shop to see what was on offer.

BRANDS AT HOUSE OF FRASER

First of all, let me start by telling you what there is on offer at House of Fraser. The Nottingham store was the one that I was invited too, but these are available at stores throughout the UK.

There are brands at the Nottingham store such as Origins, Urban Decay, Benefit, Bobbi Brown, Lancôme, YSL, Aveda and Clinique to name a few. Each counter offers their own complimentary treatments.

The makeup brands offer free makeup looks tailored to suit your skin tone and needs, the haircare brands perform styling such a straightening or curling using their products and the skincare brands offer treatments such as facials which are tailored to your skin type and its needs.

There is a private beauty room which gets booked up super quick for treatments where brands don’t have their own space to perform the treatment.

MY ORIGINS FACIAL

I was lucky enough to be attended too by the wonderful manager Nichola on the Origins counter who had worked at Origins for 8 years, so she really knows her stuff!

Origins have their own private facial area behind a screen at the counter so you don’t need to venture far from all the products to enjoy your treatment.

Nichola gave me a history of the brand from how it began and where it is today – it was actually created by the man behind Estee Lauder as he wanted a natural skincare brand under his belt. All the ingredients in Origins products are all natural and carefully scientifically researched before being launched.

Nichola started off by talking through my skin type and skin care routine to find out what I did and didn’t do and what my skin care needs are.

We concluded I have oily/normal combination skin with my problem areas being by oily t-zone and enlarged pores with black heads and that I have a fairly decent skincare routine but it could do with some improvements.

The entire range Nichola showed me was one that suited my combination skin – the Ginzing Range which smells incredible! She explained that even though my skin is oily, it still needs to be refreshed and renewed and kept hydrated.

She started by using the Refreshing Scrub Cleanser which is a gentle scrub designed for everyday use (yes even twice a day), which renews the skin cells and brightens the skin and helps pores to stay clean and prevent black heads. This actually sounds like the perfect product for my needs an it smells incredible!

When Nichola was working it into my skin the citrus smell alone was gorgeous and it was a pleasure to get a little massage and a scrub with that aroma in the air. She gently wiped it off with water on a soft cloth and my skin instantly felt clean and refreshed.

The eye cream Nichola used on me was the Ginzing Refreshing Eye Cream which brightens and depuffs the eyes using caffeine from coffee bean, panax ginseng and magnolia Extract. It has a pearlised colour which really helps to brighten the eyes.

Nichola showed me the perfect way to apply eye cream, which you may already know but I was completely oblivious, which is to use your ring finger to dab it around the eye area in a circle – start dabbing round the edge of your dark circle and up under the brow bone.

I was previously dabbing it all over the dark circle and not at all on top and Nichola said my eyes were dry and that if you over saturate the entire dark circle they can become wrinkled! She said the cream applied at the edges will creep up and give the right hydration levels to the eye area.

We used the Ginzing Refreshing Toner spritz which was so refreshing and can be used to re-energise the face throughout the day over makeup as well. She showed me the Drink Up Intensive Mask which gives dry skin hydration overnight and would be perfect for popping on during a long haul flight and leaving it to work its magic.

Nichola applied the Original Skin Serum with Willowherb which is a primer serum that fills in pores and leaves the skin smooth. They released this last year with the help of Tanya Burr and the phrase “get selfie ready” as it really evens out the skin.

We didn’t apply a moisturiser, although the Ginzing Energy Boosting Gel Moisturiser would have been perfect for my skin type due to its lightweight gel texture, because she wanted to show me the new Energy Boosting Tinted Moisturiser with SPF 40. You apply it with the fingers and it adapts to your skin tone giving a light coverage.

I was really impressed with the results of the tinted moisturiser it left my skin looking natural yet covered any red bits and I was even more impressed that it contained SPF 40 which is the ultimate protection from the suns rays!

This is a perfect summer makeup companion for warm and sunny days where you need protection and don’t want to wear a lot of makeup. I got lots of comments from other bloggers that my skin looked lovely with this on!

After my facial, which went on for a good 45 minutes!, Nichola took me round the rest of the products and showed me their masks, mens ranges and other products. She explained Origins is often a brand that most teenagers start off with and begin by getting products for Christmas and birthdays and end up building their love for it right from a young age.

My facial was so lovely and the experience is made even better by the amazing scents of the products and the in depth explanations and history from the lovely staff. The price of Origins product is up there with luxury brands but it is at one of the lowest price points compared to the other skincare brands in House of Fraser.

ORIGINS TREATMENTS

She showed me all of the treatments they had to offer which you can see here:

They are all complimentary and all you need to do is book in to make sure there is someone there on the counter at the time you want! The treatments are a great way to get to know what products suit your skin and find a regime that is tailored to you and your needs.

URBAN DECAY MAKEOVER

I was meeting friends after the event so I popped over to the Urban Decay counter and got the lovely MUA Alysha (sorry if I spelt your name wrong!) to give my cheeks a glow from the new highlighting palette and make my eyes pretty using Naked 3!

VITA LIBERATA TAN

Whilst I was there, there was a representative from Vita Liberata giving demonstrations of their new Body Blur so I had to give it a go on my pasty arms! She applied it with a mitt all over my arms and it was like having a mini arm massage as well. The results were amazing – the skin looks so naturally tanned with a subtle shimmer and it looked incredible.

I had it done before my treatment and Nichola said to me “you’re obviously tanned anyway” and I was like nope its fake she did it for me over there! So that’s how you know it looked natural! Note to self though – don’t wash up whilst you have it on as it leaves a nice washing up glove mark on your arm from where you have your hand plunged in the water! Oops!

It’s designed to come off after the shower so it lasts one day, but it goes on and dries so quickly it would be perfect for a night out! We had a mini version in our goodie bags and I can’t wait to try it!

BLOGGER EVENT

The lovely ladies at HOF even ran a raffle exclusively for us bloggers and there were so many prizes available. I was lucky enough to win (I know, me winning, what a shocker!) this lovely Rituals set!

I had such a fab time at HOF thank you so much to Flo for organising it and to Nichola for giving me such an in depth and wonderful facial experience.

Here’s what I got in my goodie bag:

Will you try a complimentary treatment at House of Fraser when you next go? If you’re in Nottingham, be sure to visit the lovely girls at the brand in Victoria Centre!

Thank you so much for reading ♥