L'occitane La Flamme Marie Claire Candle

The beauty industry has a long-standing relationship with charitable causes. Brands like Estee Lauder, Mac, Bobbi Brown, Illamasqua all have their particular causes they support by either giving a percentage of their sales away for the good cause or bringing out limited edition products and give 100% of the proceeds for charity. Companies with such global reach can considerably help in raising awareness and funds for breast cancer, aids,  education of women; bullying;  etc., hence helping a lot of people affected by these issues.

One of the well-established charity relationships is between Marie Claire and L'occitane. This year the French brand has joined Marie Claire again in the #ShareTheLight campaign by releasing a limited edition candle called La Flamme. La Flamme is not new, Marie Claire and L'occitane have been raising funds for educating women and girls worldwide since 2010 by launching limited edition candles and give away 100% of the sales for charity. L'occatine has sold nearly 600,000 candles since then and they have managed to raise  EUR 791,446 for carefully selected charities all over the world.

Why did I choose to support this cause you ask? Because everything starts and ends with education. Without education there is nothing, without education, there is no future. I was lucky in my upbringing because  education used to be considered important and a normal thing to do, not to talk about the fact that back in the day where I come from education was free up until your first degree. I used to take education for granted and used to think that everyone has a chance to study. Of course, as you are growing up, you see the world and realize this is not how it works especially when it comes to girls and women.  Education should be a basic human right and I will support whoever is fighting for it. The name of the candle 'La Flamme' means 'The Flame', which represents a symbolic light in the darkness, hope for a better future. I find it very fitting that the cover says "Eclairez mon avenir","Light up my future." since just by buying this candle for as little as £9.00 you can contribute to giving someone a better future through education.

When my obsession with beauty comes together with a great charitable cause I am happy as a clam. I love L'occitane as a brand and what they stand for so I took the chance of doing something good straight away and picked up three of the candles last week in the Brighton L'occitane shop. I find burning candles incredibly soothing and warming, it is one of my favourite Autumn things to do when it turns cold outside.

The candle itself has a very pretty and delicate design.  The scent is a blend of floral notes of Freesia, Red Berries, Lily of the Valley, Rose, Jasmine with a hint of Amber and Rosewood. It is gentle, delicate, warm with a touch of sweet. This little gem will warm up cold autumn days and when that delicate scent fills up the house I will think that maybe a young girl somewhere in the world might have a better future because of that.

This year L'occitane's La Flamme for Marie Claire is expecting to raise EUR 300,000 worldwide. If you can squeeze this into your September beauty budget, please do because with as little as £9.00 you can do something truly worthwhile.

La Flamme is available in L'occitane stores and online.