Duty Free Shopping

One of the things I love most about travel is duty free shopping. That and the fact it’s not frowned upon to drink in the morning (I’m talking bucks fizz with breakfast, not a bottle of whisky…). Duty Free Shopping is the best sort as it doesn’t count (ok, it probably does when you see the credit card bill, but still – on-route, it doesn’t count and it’s a fun way to kick off a trip). This time around I was flying through Heathrow Terminal 3 with Virgin Atlantic. I’ve been through a few duty free stores over the years and this was hands down one of the best – a HUGE range of brands, including Burberry and Tom Ford which were two of the ones to catch my eye.

In fact I believe both brands are exclusive to Terminal 3 and 5 at Heathrow (which is exciting as I’m heading through Terminal 5 in a few weeks for another trip so will make sure I do a good compare!). One of the things I found most surprising about this visit to the World Duty Free stores is the huge range of beauty treatments on offer for a bit of pre-flight pampering. Who knew you could get a little pre-holiday pick me up – make-up or a speedy facial or a luxury little massage. I enjoyed a wonderful facial courtesy of SK-II which was the perfect way to prep my skin before a few hours in recycled air. I was left feeling refreshed and my skin was make-up free and nicely moisturised. I then enjoyed a gorgeous relaxing hand and arm massage at Jo Malone London – it’s amazing how relaxing just a massage of your hands can be?! FYI – all these services are on offer to everyone, you just need to visit your counter of choice when in the airport.

But on to the good stuff – what did I buy!? Well, the first pick was a gorgeous little nail varnish from Burberry. The nail colours always catch my eye and I was torn between a blue-grey and this one that I chose which is a sort of khaki/grey with subtle bronze shimmer. The shade is called Steelgrey and it’s a beauty. This was £12.50 rather than £15

The I stalked my way to the Tom Ford counter with a purchase in mind. I was very torn between a fragrance or a make-up item. But in the end opted to go with make-up and added the first item of Tom Ford Beauty to my life (yes, really) in the shape of the gorgeous Tom Ford Wild Ginger lipstick. A lovely orange/red shade that I can see myself getting a lot of use out of and feeling rather special every time I do. Price wise this was around £30 (maybe £32.. can’t remember exactly) – a decent saving on the usual price of £37

Then I picked up a bottle of Philosophy Pure Grace spray fragrance. I mentioned this in THIS post as one I’m loving and I really am. It’s just a simple, clean, fresh scent. This was around the £25 mark (£33 normal price).

Last but by no means least I also picked up a bottle of the boy’s favourite shaving gel from Clinique – he’s pretty much a die-hard Clinique fan so loves this stuff and always picks up a new one when in Duty Free – this one was around the £12 compared to £14 usually. Having said that about his love of Clinique, the lovely folks at Khiels in World Duty Free gave me a whole host of sample sachets and travel sizes for him to try and he used one that was a scrub cleanser that he really liked and is now talking about buying! Slowly but surely turning him into a male beauty junkie…!

What is your take on Duty Free Shopping? Love a little pre-flight spree like I do?!

Some items purchased with vouchers provided by World Duty Free. Would have totally bought the same stuff. Love a bit of Duty Free Shopping.