Daniel Sander does palette perfection

If anyone can create the perfect palette it’s the make-up artist Daniel Sandler. I’ve known Daniel for many years, and I can tell you he innately knows what women want!  His make-up philosophy has always stayed true – to create colours, textures and products that play up to and enhance your own natural beauty. And that’s something to be admired. Often, make-up can be too try hard in terms of innovation and tripping over themselves to be achingly on-trend. But there's a tipping point where shades or formulas can be difficult to pull off beyond a photo shoot. Daniel’s award winning products tap into artistry without compromising beauty, as well as delivering all the professionalism he's pick up during his amazing career. Here are my top picks of his newest slicks.

Instant Tan Face Powder, £22.50

Key points: it’s shimmer free and demi-matte therefore the complexion won’t end up looking like it’s been sprinkled with Demerara sugar! It’s just the right shade of tan too.  Colour balanced for a naturally sun-kissed, not harshly baked finish, and extra brownie points are given for its water-resistant formula. In your face heat and humidity! The one stop shade gives a velvet-like finish and is perfect for dusting on a burst of radiant sunshine. Just gorgeous.

Sculpt and Slim-Effect Contour Face Powder, £24.50

This palette of two halves falls into place when Daniel explains, “The basic principle of sculpting involves highlighting and contouring the face. Therefore, everything you highlight comes forward and everything you contour stays in the background.” The palette trickery is it can be mastered to create the illusion of model like cheekbones as well as slimming down the face. There’s a how-to in the box to guide you through. Who needs Instagram to put a poster girl gloss on your look?

Eyshadow Quads, £28

Daniel has created three quads, but my favourite is Scandal at Midnight. I especially love the name  and when you look at the palette you can see why it’s so bewitching. The complementing mix of lilac grey, black, white and glitter goes to sultry up the eye something wicked. And unlike most palettes you will use every shade. There’s no wallflower in this line-up!

All Daniel’s products are available from www.danielsandler.com

Clarins score an A star for their BB Cream!

Yes, beauty shelves are groaning with the weight of BB creams, but I thought I’d mention this one, as it’s new this month and from Clarins – so you just know you’re going to get more beauty bang from your buck!

Decidedly more  than just a tinted moisturiser, Clarins Skin Perfecting Cream SPF25 is make-up that actually behaves like a skin treatment. Many say it, but don’t deliver it. A creamy, barely-there veil, it firstly offers 100% natural mineral sun filters from both UVA and UVB protection. I like to think of it as the Jack Bauer of skin protection – you're covered from all angles! Secondly it helps reboot skin with anti-fatigue and energising extracts. One of these is the I haven’t-heard-of-it-before Katatfray Bark. Apparently this helps stimulate natural hydration and minimise the appearance of fine lines. Finally, skin looks smoother and more even thanks to their great sounding 3D Radiance along with light-correcting pigments, which all-in-all goes to Hollywood up your skin. Shadowy areas are brightened without looking cakey. Available in three shades – light, medium and dark, I give this BB Cream an A Star!

Clarins BB Skin Perfecting Cream SPF25 costs £28  

Lips get sheepish

My eye caught this very dinky, very cute vintage style tin, and then I loved the product. That’s how seductive packaging can be! Lovely Lanolips is, as its name suggests contains ultra-pure, medical grade Lanolin. For those who don’t shear sheep for a living, Lanolin is known as wool wax or wool grease and secreted by the sebaceous glands of sheep. Naturally waterproof, it stops sheep shedding water from their coats, therefore works as a baa-rilliant humectant. With this in mind, just think how it beautifying it can be for us two legged folk.

Lovely Lanolips is not only perfect for keeping lips kissable, but anywhere that finds itself surrendering to dryness – elbows, heels, it can even tame flyaway hair with a little rubbed into the palm of your hands and smoothed lightly over the hair. Rich and thick, it’s also enhanced with antibacterial Manuka honey  that makes for a great rescue remedy for pimples too. Make it your new purse sized must-have.

Lovely Lanolips costs £7.99 and can be found with other products from the brand at www.victoriahealth.com  

D&G put the sizzle into Sicily

I double heart the Love in Taormina summer make-up collection from Dolce&Gabbana for lots of reasons. One, because the colours are just too delicious, two, the whole fabulous collection has been envisaged by one of the most creative and nicest make-up artists, Pat McGrath, three, have you ever seen a more beautiful nail collection? And lastly, one of my best holiday destinations has been Taormina.

 

Having visited this beautiful high lying village in Sicily, I can tell you it’s glossy, romantic and steeped in glamorous history. It’s where Elizabeth Taylor broke a guitar over Richard Burton’s head! DH Lawrence admired the views towards Mount Etna and Tennessee Williams sipped fancy pants cocktails at the Caffe Wunderbar – be prepared to drop a few euros here!

But getting back to the collection, it’s been inspired by the native flowers of Sicily which are passionate in their brightness, heart stopping in their prettiness and can’t help but seduce with their delicate and pungent scents. Love in Taormina captures all of these qualities with their ultra-vivid pigments that are a mix of glossy and matte textures, adding a sunny radiance to any skintone. Nails are undoubtedly the standout stars with 5 rich, high voltage shades. They really do throw up a beauty dilemma in which one to pick, but which ever one; they’re all complemented with a seductive and full coloured lip along with a shimmering pale pink or purple eye that effortlessly attracts and reflects the light. Cheeks are flushed with gentle warmth from apricot to a pinky brown. Your passport to happy sun-drenched beauty days,  D&G have certainly put the sizzle into Sicily! 

Love in Taormina is available from July.

Nails price at £18, Lipsticks, £23, Eyeshadow Colour Quad, £38 and Cheek Colour, £30.

Stockists Harrods and www.harrods.com

The Body Shop Beauty Buzz

When your skin is bare and sun kissed you only want products that enhance your gorgeous summer glow, not cover it up. Two new products that add shimmer and sensuality are The Body Shop’s Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil and Honey Bronze Shimmer Lip Balm. They literally capture the feeling of those long sun-drenched days we are all hoping for!

Their honey bee trail is one of Community Fair Trade and sourced from the Western Ethiopian Highlands. Honey is added to cosmetics for its moisturising abilities, and these two products are sure to cause quite a beauty buzz when launched in store. The Shimmering Dry Oil,  once vigorously shaken glides on and sexes up any skin tone. Smooth on shins, tops of the shoulders and across the décolleté for evening chic. It smells exotically delicious too. For lips the Shimmer Lip Balm is a hive of loveliness. Easy to wear - you don't even need a mirror to apply, simply glide onto lips to naturally shimmy up.

Beauty note: these pics aren’t from The Body Shop, but from a Vogue book I have published in 1980. I thought they summed up the look as sweet as honey!

Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil, £16 and Shimmer Lip Balm, £6 both available from the 14^th May.

www.thebodyshop.com

A moisturiser that gives a fig!

This scrummy raspberry colour from Roger & Gallet seduced me into trying their new Fleur de Figuier Replenishing Body Lotion. When sleuthing for a body moisturiser I want something that looks good on my bathroom shelf and is easy to dispense. There’s nothing more annoying than hopping out the shower or bath all slippery hands only to have to try and untwist a cap. It’s either a flip lid or a pump for me!  

 So, with the essentials sorted, let me tell you about the product. Velvety moisturising, and leaving the skin scented with the spirit of happy Mediterranean holidays - including fig tree, the inspiration behind the fragrance, you can slick on in the morning and your skin will continue to feel hydrated during the closing of the day. It has an antioxidant factor too for skin fitness including five red berries – hence the berry nice shade I’m guessing, along with a moisturiser staple, aloe vera, kiwi extract and ginseng. And like matching bra and knickers, I rather like the soap that complements it too.

Roger & Gallet Fleur de Figuier Collection is available from this month at M&S. The body lotion retails at £13 and the soap with travel box, £6.

Benefit boxes clever

Those San Fran Benefit gals have done it again. Yep, they’ve launched their All-Star Kits of  instant beauty boxes that make it goof proof to brighten, fake or bronze your look. Do The Bright Thing, Primping With The Stars and The Bronze Champions are retro designed boxes that open like a book and contain cutsey sized products that deliver one of the three total looks. Aside from fabulous products, the added value is the tips and tricks book attached to the inside lid. Flip open, and you have your very own make-up artist giving slick picks on how to make the most of these diddy beautifiers.  Benefit with benefits!

All-Star Kits are available from the 18^th May priced at £26.50

www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk

  

Sweet and creamy cheeks

Oooh! I have been waiting for these for sooo long! French cosmetic house, Bourjois launched their first baked powder blush nearly 150 years ago, and although I love the dinky little pots and the pinch-your-cheek shades, personally I prefer to use a cream on my cheeks. So imagine my delight and subsequent whooping when Bourjois launched their Cream Blush. Whooping because although I have many cream blushes, I am always searching for the next one that will give my cheeks that extra glowy-ness.

Cream Blush is a brand new generation of flush and blush. A cream slash powder technology, it feels weightless on the fingertips, and when blended instantly transforms into a  velvety, silky powder. There’s really no need for over-worked blending as it quickly gives the effect of a second skin – albeit a better one! The good-for-your-skin formula is enriched with poppy, apricot and mango extracts, where the over-all cheeky radiance is one of a subtly enhanced complexion. Think summery fresh and naturally sweet. The staying power is good too. I applied in the morning and colour stayed trued until the end of the day.

The new blushes have the same rose fragrance as the original Little Round Pot Blush, although the little round pot has lost some of its roundness! Now lightweight and slim, it slips comfortably into your purse , where you can use the integral mirror to subtly build up colour during the day.  It’s simply a pot of radiant loveliness and a must-try buy!

Cream blush comes in four shades including Nude Velvet, Healthy Glow, Rose Tender and Sweet Cherry.

Priced at £7.99 each, they are launching 8^th May in Selfridges and from the 15^th May can be found in Boots, Superdrug and Asos.com

Colour genius

MAKE-UP FOR HAIR

Unless you’re consciously working that too cool for skool punk look of showcasing your roots – think Debbie Harry circular 1978, for most of us peek-a-boo roots don’t look cool, just unkempt. So when a haircare line comes along that promises to disguise and protect your hard earned colour – let’s face it a good colourist ain’t cheap! You take note.

SWEEPING AWAY YOUR ROOTS

Color Wow has brains. Created by renowned beauty inventor, Gail Federici and the hair legend that is John Frieda behind the brand, you know you’re in for something a little out of the ordinary. A hair changing collection that thinks outside the colour box, this dynamic duo have gone back to their roots to tackle yours. For more than three quarters of us who are reliant on colour to keep our hair looking rebooted and refresh, Color Wow delivers a DIY solution to roots, fading and brassiness.

Their innovation, The Root Cover Up is a favourite. Packaged like a  high-end cosmetic, flip open the lid and you have a professional mineral powder. With a unique oil based, non-waxy formulation that doesn’t budge. Simply brush on to smudge and disguise offending re-growth. Each shade – there are three: blonde, medium brown and dark brown, boasts a number of colours and pigments to ensure can’t-spot- blending with the natural tones of your hair. Obviously it’s not permanent and doesn’t take over from a colourist, but it’s perfect for covering roots on a daily basis when you’ve over-run your colour appointment by a week or more. Especially handy on bright sunny days when neglected roots love to show you up!

SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER

For the wet line, check out their Color Security Shampoo which is sulphate-free and features a Low Charge Density Technology to prevent cuticle swelling and fading. The conditioners have a trademarked Sealicon colour shield complex to protect and smooth the cuticle. There’s also a lavender tinted mousse to counteract barmaid brassy tones and a One Minute Transformation Styling Cream in the collection too.  In fact, everything to keep your colour uplifted and stealing the spotlight!

For further information on pricing and an at-a-glance VT on how to use The Root Cover Up go to www.colorwowhair.com