Swipe and go

Swiping is second nature... iPad, iPhone, iPod, it's also nothing new in beauty, except they're called wipes or pads. One swipe and everything disappears - nail polish, stale make-up, germ ridden hands and the latest from Origins dead skin cells. Modern friction Instant brightening pads by-pass the laborious physical scrubbing step of exfoliation. These textured one-swipe-super-easy-to-use pads are specifically formulated to significantly improve skin's texture tone and clarity. Non jarring to the skin, they loosen cling on surface cells, helping to restore fresh and breezy vibrancy. Just gently swipe the infused pad of Rice Exfoliating Complex comprised of fruit acids across the skin twice a week. I like to use on the back of my hands too. Simply swipe, throw and go!

Origins Modern Friction Instant brightening pads costs £31 for 40 pads are available from May at selected department stores and www.origins.co.uk

Bronzer on a plate

I just had to snap Lancôme's Star Bronzer on a side plate to show you how big it actually is. Certainly not a little something you can slip into your make-up bag, but nevertheless ample enough to use at home to sweep over face, decollete, collarbones and any other bodily bits you'd like to see bronzed up. In fact, it probably could last a good year until next summer! With this kind of portion distortion welcome, the other reason to buy is for the gradient of colour. Not called Golden Riviera for nothing, the effect is far from a block colour, this Mediterranean inspired powder dusts on dark and light hues as well as a highlighting gold. Skin looks like it's basking rather than cooking in sunlight. There's nothing worse than looking too browned off.

Lancôme Star bronzer in Golden Riviera costs £35 and launches May 17th exclusively at John Lewis. 

Spritz the spirit of NYC

If you’re looking for a fragrance full of fizz and energy then DKNY’s Women Limited Edition is as fresh and exhilarating as the city itself.  Sparkling notes of grapefruit and juicy pear delivers a fruity burst along with the elegant bouquet of white magnolia and water lily. Young and flirtatious, spritz with summer abandonment and reach for, if not the stars, then the skyscrapers.

DKNY Women Limited Edition, £38 is available exclusively at Superdrug and online from this month.

Cheek glow for cloudy days

Who doesn’t want to be a Bronze Goddess? Estee Lauder are brilliant marketeers and know only too well the allure of a name. Their Bronze Goddess Collection is updated every summer with product picks and colourways that are inspired by blue skies, long sandy beaches and end-of-the-day sunsets. It’s a long awaited holiday captured in a product!

My go-to in the collection this season has to be their Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Cheek Glow. Flip open the chic tortoiseshell mini compact and you have the transformer shade to give Vitamin D starved cheeks a natural, healthy and sun-kissed touch. Suiting all skin tones, this luxury blush has a skin-loving moisturizing formula that is gorgeously creamy and sits on the cheeks without having to over blend. A real beautifier, it effortlessly lifts the complexion and adds a radiant glow to help sidestep one of our good old British cloudy days!

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Cheek Glow, £25.
Available at counters from this month and online at www.esteelauder.co.uk from May.

Lash love

Just as some people change their boyfriends/hair/jobs on a whim I change my mascaras! I’m never faithful to one for too long, always having my eye out for one that promises longer, thicker and prettier looking lashes without having to resort to fakes. I can’t be bothered with the theatre of putting on fake lashes and would rather the mascara did all the hard work.

Bourjois 1 Seconde Volume Mascara is who I’m currently stepping out with. As any beauty geek will know the success of a good mascara is all in the brush. This brush takes its inspiration from professional round hairbrushes. It has wraparound spherical bristles that work to coat and capture every single lash. The brush even works great on those tricky outer lashes which can all too often look clumpy. The overall effect is one of fanned out, evenly coated and pretty lashes that don't go near witchy or spidery in appearance. I may have just found The One.

Bourjois 1 Seconde Volume Mascara is available in Intense Black and Intense Black Waterproof.

Retails at £9.99 available from mid May.

Paws for thought

I admit this blog post is a little out of the ordinary for me, but in a funny way links to beauty. Just shy of three weeks ago, my cat Louie disappeared. Just like that. I’ve had him for 15 years and my life is missing something without him. When I was freelance churning out feature after feature he stopped me from going bonkers. Always nestled up in my office, jumping on my lap as the steam was coming off my keyboard, we made a good team. Wherever I was he was nearby. A real homebody. Which makes his sudden disappearance even more baffling as he hardly ventured out.

But apart from anything, I never realised how much I depended on him for daily happiness and wellbeing. A well known stress buster, cats are known to lower blood pressure in over boiling humans, and after a challenging day, I would come home and stroke and tickle him for all his worth. Now gone. My teenage son isn’t so interested! Just watching him sleep with his paws outstretched would bring a smile to my face and a warmth in my heart. In short, I feel flat and sad which obviously shows in my face. I know it’s only a cat, and there’s much worse that happens at sea, but for the time being I’m grieving and no amount of beauty lotions can bring back that intrinsic glowy happiness that a beloved pet can. Paws for thought.    

The F1 of cleansing

Having a nosey around a girlfriend’s bathroom the other week I came across her Clarisonic Cleansing Brush. Now, of course, I’ve heard of it, but casually put it down to another three figure expensive gizmo that promised the Holy Grail that is skin radiance. But being a cleansing freak, believing it’s the cornerstone of great skin, I asked if I could buy a new brush head and borrow it for a week whilst she was on holiday. And by golly, I’m glad I did. The difference it makes to the appearance of your skin is super visible. In my opinion faster and longer lasting than any radiance boosting serum.  In fact, it’s so essential I now regard it as my facial toothbrush. The thought of not cleansing with it is too horrifying to contemplate!

Up swinging to the recently launched Clarisonic Aria Sonic Skin Cleansing Brush, it’s fun and easy to use. I simply apply normal cleanser to my skin – although in the box was a Lancome Gel Eclat Clarifying Cleanser which was a nice bonus, and let the brush oscillate and vibrate gently to its sonic technology. With three speeds from sensitive through to supercharged for an extra boost, it gives a cute little warning noise when you should move the brush to another area of your face. It automatically switches off after one or two minutes depending on your cleaning cycle. Truly the F1 of cleansing – it produces over 300 movements per second, my skin is in pole position for reduced pores and improved skin tone. Celebration indeed. 

Clarisonic Aria is priced at £155.

www.clarisonic.co.uk