A Few of My Favourite 2015 Finds

Rimmel Salon Pro in Desire (£4.49) is the nail varnish I’ve loved most this year – the colour is chic and sexy and it lasts terrifically well.

Bumble & Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Protective Primer (£7.50) is brilliant for detangling and conditioning even the finest hair.

Illamasqua Brow Gel (£18.50) proved the perfect product for filling in sparse eyebrows in a subtle way.

I fell in love with the creamy texture and flesh colour of No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Eye Cream (£17)

Max Factor Ageless Elixir (£12.99) is THE most flattering foundation for older skin.

Chanel Rouge Coco (£26) was reformulated this year and is now perfect for my slightly dry lips – especially the deep pink Marie shade.

I tracked down a bottle of Essie Gel Setter Top Coat (£9.99) after it was used in the best manicure I’ve had in years!

Freedom Pro Eye Primer (£2.50) – cheap as chips but as effective as eye bases ten times its price!

Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque (£8.99) is simply the best lip lacquer I’ve come across in years – and the price is as beautiful as the colours..

Clarins Super Restorative Remodelling Serum (£80) is my anti-ageing weapon of 2015.

Estee Lauder Little Black Liner (£22) proved 2015’s easiest way to pull off a sexy flick of the eyeline.

Carole’s Christmas Crackers

I love this picture of Carole Lombard, one of my favourite Hollywood beauties from the golden age, gleefully opening her Christmas presents – even though I know it was probably taken in July and all the boxes are empty! I’m sure she would have loved to find any of my pick of this year’s beauty gifts under her tree – apart, obviously, from the token one for the men!

Bobbi Brown Caviar Mini Lip & Eye Palette, £26.50 (www.bobbibrown.co.uk)

Aveda Stress Fix Hand Creme Gift Set, £32 (www.aveda.co.uk)

Elemis Clean Man Gift Set, £25 (www.elemis.com)

 

Dior Multi-Use Make-up Palette, £68 (www.houseoffraser.co.uk)

Diptyque Oliban Candle, £48 (www.spacenk.co.uk)

Tom Ford Lips & Nails Gift Set, £130 (Tom Ford counters in House of Frasers and Space NK)

Attaboy, Clarins!

Christmas wouldn’t be half as beautiful without Clarins – it’s definitely the go-to beauty brand for skincare treats, and its red packaging just adds to the festive appeal.  For me, the stand-out anti-ageing product this year has been Clarins’ Super Restorative Remodelling Serum (£80), which promises to help lift features, replenish the skin, reshape and redefine the facial contours and reduce the appearance of age spots.

I used it religiously from August until very recently (it lasted extremely well, especially since, once I began to panic about running out, I only targeted my forehead and my jawline!), following the “Clarins Method” – a particular way of applying it using gentle pressure. I noticed an improvement in the tautness of the skin on my jawline pretty quickly, which is why I was encouraged to keep using it twice a day and not to skip the serum step even when I was knackered.

Early on, somebody commented on how lovely my skin was looking. I remember feeling perplexed because at the time I felt quite run-down. Then I realised that the credit for any improvement in my complexion was probably due to this serum, since it also restores radiance, and gives older women’s skin the support it needs to bounce back and recover from the hormonal changes which inevitably weaken it.

Towards the end of my Super Restorative Remodelling cycle, I was lucky enough to be treated to one of the fabulous Clarins Tri-Active facials (£67 for 85 minutes), which now incorporate the serum. As ever, it was not only extremely relaxing, but also produced instant results in terms of tightening and brightening the skin. If you’re planning to splurge on a woman who is fortysomething or older this Christmas, this is the skincare to buy – and the Tri-Active facial is the spa treatment to book….

For details of your nearest spa, visit www.clarins.co.uk

One for Her – and One for Me … A Bourjois Christmas

Parisian beauty brand Bourjois is making Christmas shopping a much more enjoyable experience with a couple of fab offers running concurrently at Superdrug and Boots. I don’t normally get excited about these things but these offers are downright irresistible! I haven’t received any press info about them; I just stumbled across them instore – and figured that it’s worth knowing about both deals before you choose which one to go for .. Or which to go for first!

At Superdrug until the end of January, not only can you buy three Bourjois items for the price of two, but you will also receive the lovely eyeshadow trio pictured – a beautiful, light-coloured and very wearable trio of shimmering nude shades, and instructions on how to use them. A brilliant stocking-filler – or maybe a palette to save for the spring?

Meanwhile, over at Boots, a spend of £15 from the Bourjois stand before December 29 will earn you the Rouge Glamour gift box (worth £29; scroll down to view), which contains full-size versions of the Smoky Stories Quad Eyeshadow in Upside Brown, a Volume Glamour Max Mascara in Ultra Black, a Rouge Edition Velvet Liquid Lipstick in Hot Pepper and a So Laque Ultra Shine Nail Polish in Rouge Escarpin.

Both free gifts are available while stocks last. I reckon that won’t be long!

 

 

Full of Eastern Promise

Apologies for the absence of new blog posts over the last week but I was unwell and feeling far too wretched to write.. I did get a laugh in the midst of the misery, however, thanks to the arrival in the mail of a selection of items from the team at cult British beauty house Illamasqua, the brand for those who dare to follow their own path make-up wise. Why the laugh? Well, actually it was more of a snigger – fuelled by the inexplicable name of one of the beautiful nail varnish I’d been sent. Phallic. Nope, me neither. It’s a sparkly midnight blue shade – not a fleshy one as you might perhaps expect!

Anyway,  it’s part of the Equinox Gift Set (£45), one of three which complement the gorgeous Equinox make-up collection modelled in the photo above. The  collection is said to represent a desert at night, with the shimmering textures of the gorgeous Celestial Palette (£34; one of the loveliest eyeshadow quartets I’ve seen this season – scroll down to view it), the Broken Gold (£18.50) liquid eye colour and the champagne shade of Nail Varnish in Beam (£14.50) all evoking the stars and the sky.

The collection is completed with a set of False Eye Lashes in No27 (£12.50) and the deep garnet-coloured, satin-finish Glamore Lipstick in Vega (£19.50). In all, a ravishing alternative to the other beauty houses’ festive make-up collections – and a unique one. After all, I don’t think I’ve come across one that reminds me of the Three Kings of the Orient or the old Turkish Delight ads before…