My Week in Beauty

Apologies for the oversized pictures – yet another problem with WordPress….

It’s not the easiest time of year to keep an up-to-date diary – what with all the bugs going round (I felt lousy for about ten days) and then the frenzy of social activities and shopping once December kicks in. Thankfully, I was recovered in time for the first of them: another fabulous party hosted by ROX, the Glasgow-based jewellers.

This being the Christmas party, it seemed appropriate to pull out all the stops, and give the Guerlain Les Ombres de Nuit 4 Colour Palette (£37) – a beautiful eyeshadow quartet from the French company’s exquisite Vol de Nuit Christmas collection – an outing. Actually, as is invariably the case with palettes, I only used the two lighter shades – a brownish silver and a greeny acqua – as recent photos of me with heavy eye make-up have made me look less than my best..  So, I’m using Grace Kelly as my beauty inspiration (this week!)..

My go-to lipstick for evenings at the moment served me well at the ROX party – surviving several cocktails and copious canapes: the deep reddy-pink Belle de Nuit shade of the new Dior Rouge Dior Les Rouges Or lipsticks (£22.50).

Having been unwell for a while and Saturday being my first night out in ages, I was out of practice and totally forgot to paint my nails at the front door before dashing into my taxi. I put that right on Tuesday when I headed off to the annual Clinique Christmas dinner wearing one of the new nail varnishes from Chanel – for spring 2012… Chanel Le Vernis in April (£17.50; 020-7493 3836) is the stand-out shade for me of the trio being launched at the end of January (it’s coming round sooner than you’d think). A dark browny pink (as opposed to May and June, which are pastel shades), it has vamp appeal – and was the perfect substitute for the bottle of Tom Ford nail polish which I had hoped would turn up in time.

I’ve been experimenting a little with my skincare too… I’ve not yet tried out any of the face products by the Scottish all-natural beauty company Pure Lochside, but I’m dying to try one of their facials, having recently experienced a hand and arm treatment in Whole Foods – and been introduced to their oils and balms, many of which use Scottish ingredients including the surprisingly soothing thistle.

The oil which I have been using religiously at night is Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil (£29; www.clarins.co.uk, from January). Although it’s being relaunched in a new, smaller bottle with a pipette for easy application, it has actually not changed in its formulation since it first went on the market. In 1954! I’ve been using two drops of this oil on my shine-prone skin every evening, and while I won’t say that I’ve noticed a let-up in the shininess yet (it has only been a week), I am finding it a pleasure to use and I’m noticing that my skin feels smoother as a result. So far, so positive… Let’s see what happens two weeks into the party/cold weather season – and as my 40th birthday looms ever larger.