My Week in Beauty

SUNDAY

Mm, after experimenting with Dior’s beautiful new colour collection, Dior Gris Montaigne, on Sunday, I came to a conclusion that I had suspected for some time: grey and I just don’t get along when it comes to eye make-up. While brown tones make dark blue eyes “pop” and help warm pale complexions, cool greys don’t seem to do anything for my colouring.

As gorgeous as the new Dior 5 Couleurs in Gris-Gris (£40; pictured below) is, with its spectrum of shimmering shades from pearly white to glittery black, it just doesn’t do it for me in the way that the gold tones from the Christmas collection did. Which is why I keep going back to them!

This new range is a homage to the colour that has long symbolised Dior elegance, the dove grey which adorns the walls at the original Dior boutique at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.

And, while I may not be able to pay tribute with the grey eyeshadows (or, for that matter, with the to-die-for Lady Dior bag in its grey incarnation -just a bit out of my current price range), I’ll be able to get in on the grey act thanks to  Dior Vernis Haute Couleur Extreme Wear Nail Lacquer in Gris Montaigne (£17.50), which looks set to take on Chanel’s Black Pearl as the nail colour for spring 2011.

MONDAY

Frasers department store in Glasgow was the venue for a buffet breakfast on Monday – but the local beauty press was far too busy learning about the new Apothecary, which we’d been invited to view, to bother about the bagels and other delights.

This new space – which is also to be found in several of the House of Fraser stores in England  – is home to various niche brands, many of which I’ve never come across before.  Per-fekt, Gentry Grooming and Body America are three of the names which were new to me, while Laura Mercier, Ojon and Crabtree & Evelyn are old favourites. There’s also Apothecary’s own name bath and body range, which was created with the renowned perfumer Francois Robert.

I left Frasers with a bulging bag of samples from the numerous ranges represented in the Apothecary, and headed straight over to the Rogano bar to share my spoils with Margaret, my beauty therapist friend whose opinion is always worth seeking for skincare advice.

We’ll report our findings anon, but in the meantime we’re both checking out the Apothecary website – at www.houseoffraser.co.uk – to see which brands didn’t provide samples!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday, I couldn’t help thinking of Twiggy as she was in the 1960s as I dabbled with not one but two new mascaras – at the same time… On the upper lashes, I was trying out the latest wonder wand sent by the Boots Press Office. 17 Photo Flawless Lashes Mascara (£5.99; www.boots.com) has a curved brush which is perfect for bending the lashes out and up. Not only that, but it also comes in a trio of shades – Black/Blue, Black/Green and Black/Copper – created to complement the colour of the eyes.

While my upper lashes were coated courtesy of 17, the lower lashes were kitted out by Clinique, the brand new Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara (£10;
www.clinique.co.uk) to be precise. This is a first: a mascara with a dinky wand specifically designed for those pesky, short lower lashes. It certainly works wonders, transforming teeny lashes into luscious tendrils and even finding lashes which were invisible without mascara.  And if you want the Twiggy or Liza look, it’s an absolute must…

WEDNESDAY

My beauty highlight of the week was discovering a fantastic new cleanser which is really a pleasure to use.  Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel (£19.40; www.elemis.com) does exactly what it says on the label – but with an unusual degree of luxury and comfort.

It’s a rich gel, which smells lovely, and which you apply to dry skin before you begin massaging it in with damp fingers.  At that point, it begins to emulsify and dissolve the make-up and dirt on the face. Packed with anti-oxidants, it cleanses deeply while comforting and soothing the skin – so much so that even a confirmed water-avoider like myself is more than happy to use it…

THURSDAY

I had a real treat on Thursday – an afternoon in Edinburgh, culminating in a trip to The Filmhouse to see one of my movie heroines in her breakthrough film. Carole Lombard is the heroine – both in terms of her talent and her style – and the film was Twentieth Century (in which she’s pictured here), from 1934, one of the current season of Howard Hawks movies.

Lombard was an intelligent beauty, a sassy, sexy young woman who didn’t take herself too seriously, was a master of her craft,  liked to hang out with the boys, and knew how to use make-up and lighting to make the most of her looks which, despite the gorgeous photos from her brief run of success in Hollywood, were not perfect.

Any opportunity to see this luminous beauty on the big screen is worth taking – especially since she crammed a string of sensational screwball performances into her short life, among them Twentieth Century, My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, True Confession, Mr and Mrs Smith and To Be or Not To Be.

Clark Gable lost the love of his life when she died in a plane crash at the age of 34; the world lost a great talent – and one of the most exquisite beauties ever to light up the screen.

FRIDAY

Beauty lifesaver of the week was undoubtedly Dior Crystal Nude (£26.50; www.boots.com), a mattifying and transparent foundation which can be used alone to enhance bare skin and make it look naturally smooth and clear, or which can be used for touch-ups to perfect the skin while you’re out and about.

I started using it on Monday at the Apothecary launch when the heat caused by so many bodies crammed into a small space at the back of the always overheated store triggered an outbreak of T-zone shine. And it worked. So much so that it didn’t leave my make-up bag all week…

My Week in Beauty

MONDAY

My week got off to an unexpectedly glam start when I decided to have a play about with some of the dark lip glosses I’ve been sent recently. There are currently umpteen variations on the uber-dark lip theme, from the dark berries and plums that swing back into fashion every winter to the deep purples and even blacks which are very winter 2010.

I plunged straight in at the deep end, colour-wise, by starting with the brand new limited edition black lip gloss from Dior: Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Noir Lame (£19.50; available now from Selfridges, and nationwide from November 1) . As I opened the tube, I thought to myself: “This’ll be a good one to scare the kids with at Hallowe’en”. But as soon as I looked in the mirror, I was completely smitten with the total transformation that I’d undergone with just one swipe of the wand… It was positively vampish, very 1920s silent movie star – shades of the original “It” girl, Clara Bow (above) and her exotic-looking
contemporary Theda Bara. Indeed, they probably did use black lipcolour to create their famously bee-stung lips – black would have showed up best on film…

After that, the purples and plums looked tame and, frankly, less dramatic. Strangely, the black – spread evenly across the lips (which does take a little time) – suited me much better than dark purple which can make me look rather ill… Teamed with a simple, nude-coloured eye dressed with just liner and mascara, it looked beautiful but you can bet I’ll be doing some more experimenting very soon!

TUESDAY

Tuesday was lunch with Margaret, my beauty therapist pal whom I met years ago when she worked as a make-up artist on shoots for a magazine whose beauty section I edited. Of course, she had a report to file, this time on the latest addition to the Chanel Sublimage range of luxury skincare – Chanel Sublimage Essential Revitalising Concentrate (£290; call 020-7493 3826 for stockists).

Here’s what Margaret said: “With all good serums, I expect an almost instant boost of some sort and this certainly didn’t disappoint. With just one application, my face felt firmer – it was like Spanx for the face!

“The instruction manual with this product read like an adventure novel: ‘Driven by a tireless quest for effectiveness and perfection, Chanel researchers travelled the world to discover new natural treasures  – to India and the Himalayas at the altitude of almost 10,000 feet, the Chanel team discovered the Golden Champa..’

“The science pitch with this product is that the Golden Champa detoxifies the skin cells, allowing them to be reborn. Well, after three weeks, my skin is looking great – though I wouldn’t yet say ‘reborn’. I’m looking forward to seeing the final results after I finish this 30ml bottle (and I’m nearly there). I only have two criticisms: the first is that it is very heavily fragranced  and for a sensitive skin this may present a problem, and the other is the price which means that very few women will be able to afford it!”

WEDNESDAY

Bobbi Brown products seem to be getting harder to come by if you’re a beauty writer, but I managed to snag a couple of items from her new Hydrating Skincare range to try.

Hydrating skincare is exactly what my permanently quenched complexion needs so I was the ideal guinea pig for the Hydrating Face Tonic (£18.50; www.bobbibrown.co.uk) and the Hydrating Face Cream (£33, above). And they exceeded my expectations.. The tonic comes in a clear bottle (emblazoned with Bobbi’s crest) which resembles the flacons of old-fashioned toner that I used to buy in Italian beauty halls. And the contents – a calming, soothing fluid made with minerals and cucumber – continue the retro theme. It’s a very comfortable and pleasurable product to use.

Ditto for the cream, which I used at night instead of my regular serum and cream combo – though it’s probably intended more as a day cream. With a texture of thick, whipped cream and an ingredients list which includes soothing caffeine and moisturising algae extract, it’s soothing, hydrating and great even on sensitive skin like mine.

THURSDAY

Thursday was the official opening of the newly revamped beauty hall at Frasers in Glasgow – and who better to do it than Elizabeth Hurley (left), who was in town anyway in her role as a spokesperson for Estee Lauder.

Not only did Liz pronounce the slick and gleaming new hall open, she flicked a light switch and turned the historic Frasers building pink – so that it joined the other landmarks across the world which are marking Estee Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.

A vision in pink Herve Leger, she then did a brief signing – of products from the limited edition The Elizabeth Hurley Lip Collection (£25; www.esteelauder.co.uk) which is being sold as part of this year’s Pink Ribbon Collection. For your £25, you get a shocking pink mock-croc clutch bag containing two double-ended glosses from the Pure Color Gloss range. From each purchase of a product from the Pink Ribbon Collection in the UK, £7.50 will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for its research programme at the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research.

FRIDAY

Elizabeth Hurley’s sexy make-up look (smoky eyes, pale-ish pink lips) was created by the renowned make-up artist Mary Greenwell who took advantage of being in town to introduce the Scottish beauty press to her “baby”, her first fragrance – Plum (from £60 for the eau de parfum; available from selected House of Fraser stores).

Over an informal lunch, Mary – whose gold baubly bracelet evoked the weighty, gold- plated, stopper of her Plum bottle as well as the case in which the Solid Parfum (£70) is housed – chatted to journalists about her luxurious, very feminine scent. A classic chic chypre with a fruity twist, it has sparkling top notes of plum (natch), blackcurrant, peach, bergamot and lemon; heart notes of gardenia, tuberose, orange flower, rose and jasmine, and a base of sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli, amber and white musk.

I’ll be writing more about Mary and Plum later this week …