For the love of rose

What girl doesn’t like roses whether they’re in a vase, named after a box of chocolates or bottled in a juice? Roger & Gallet’s new Rose Imaginaire smells as delicious as a bunch of lightly scented roses and delivers all the pleasure of chocolates without the guilt factor!

The fragrance stands pretty in pink and is a fresh fragrant water that never over-powers, but instead delicately plays the three acts of this poetic and historic flower  – the sweetness of a rose petal, the delicate scent of a fruity rosebud and the romantic smell of a rose in full bloom. Whether you’re gifting yourself or someone else it has all the hallmarks of love.

Rose Imaginaire is exclusively available in Marks & Spencer Nationwide at £32.

Lancôme spreads a little sparkle

Like hangers full of sequined dresses, sparkle and glitter in make-up can be a touch overwhelming leading up to Christmas. There’s only so much a girl can handle without looking like she should be switched on!

For their under-play on the sparkle, I love Lancôme’s Happy Holidays Collection. Inspired by Paris – the city of illuminations that enchants and shimmers, each beauty pick is bold and modern, giving your party look just enough of a seasonal edge.

The Ombre Hynose Mono, £18 is all wrapped up in a gold glitter case and once opened reveals a golden eyeshadow. Woven like a mesh fabric, the formula is exceptional to handle. The pure golden pigments literally sweep like magic across the eye. Think of Tinkerbell with her wand dusting down magic glitter. The effect lasts for 16 hours – that’s a heck of a lot of partying, whereby the formula can be used wet or dry to increase the density.

For nails their Vernis in Love in Ginger Swing , £12– just feeling that name! gives nails the cocktail vibe, and for lips L’Absolu Rouge in Rubix Exquis, £21 adds high octane to your look ready for any mistletoe action. A radiant red, it’s adorned with radiant metallic shimmer for a luminous and very modern lip. Santa will definitely be coming to your town if looking so seductive!

Lancôme’s Happy Holiday’s Collection is available nationwide from this month while limited edition stocks last.

  

Man, I smell like a woman!

I don’t know about you, but I love smelling the unexpected in terms of fragrance. Generally, you wouldn’t expect to smell a cologne on a woman, but the more I’ve asked around, the more women are liking the masculine and earthy smell of a men’s cologne. “It makes me feel powerful, less girly” says one such scent sleuth. Amongst some of my friends, Vetiver by Guerlian has been a favourite, but I’m now going to introduce them to Atelier Cologne.

It’s probably not a perfume house you’ve heard of – I hadn’t, so it’s even more exciting to discover it. Their master perfumers pride themselves on blending unpredictable and rare extracts with more-of-the-known fresh citruses to create Colognes Absolues. Made in France, the bottles are robust and masculine in the hand, and the concentrates are high, the lowest out of the nine colognes being 12 per cent. I’ve been wearing the addictive Orange  Sanguine – top notes of blood and bitter orange mingle with jasmine and geranium drying down to sandalwood and tonka beans, for the past week, and the general consensus is something along the lines of, ‘Oooh, you smell nice, what is it?’ How much nicer is that than someone saying, ‘are you wearing such-and-such?’ After all, a woman does like to retain a bit of mystery, and never more than with the trail of her fragrance.

Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine, £95

Available in Selfridges, London.

To read their back story and check out their collection go to www.ateliercologne.com

Pout pickers

...WITH ADDED SECRET MIRROR

 Pucker. Pout. Pose. Who doesn’t love the effect of a good lipstick? Lip smackers that have landed on my radar this week are 17’s Mirror Shine Lipstick and Fresh’s Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment SPF15. 17’s demographic is young and experimental, but outside of being a teen there’s plenty of make-up value in the range too. The formulations are grown-up – this lipstick feels wonderfully soft and hydrating, leaving a subtle sheen on the lips, and they’re fashion focused. Hard wired to bring catwalk colour to the high street, it’s a range perfect for dipping into trends without paying a fortune. The new Mirror Shine Lipsticks come in 13 on-trend shades – their insiders report that salmon and mauve (not as scary as it sounds, and actually makes your teeth look whiter) are two of the season’s top colours for lips, which you can find in the collect. And surprise! When pulling off the top, there’s a handy mini mirror that slides out from the lid. Genius for perfecting quick touch-ups.

SUGAR FOR THE LIPS, NOT THE HIPS

My second pout pick from Fresh puts sugar on our lips, but thankfully not on our hips! Sugar is a natural humectant that ensures long lasting moisture. Apart from the sweet stuff, there are natural waxes, fatty acids and antioxidants, all of which conspire to make this berry lip tint a hydrating anti-ageing slick. SPF15 is in the mix too – remember, lips are vulnerable to UV damage due to their lack of melanin. It smells berry nice, and the colour can be as sheer as or dense as you please. Simply layer up for a deeper hue. Oh, and one last thing. Don’t try pulling off the lid, it’s a screw top!

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick, £4,79

Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment, £16.50 available from Fresh, 92 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4RD

La Prairie's super serum

Please allow me to share this anti-ageing story. I recently met a woman I used to go to school with via a business contact, and post greet duly looked her up on Facebook – as you do.  Now, if my memory serves me right she was always a year above me at school, but on her Facebook profile she was now miraculously seven years younger than myself! Without trying to sound too catty, the seven years she had shaved off her birth date hadn’t done her any justice. She looked good for age. Her true age, and to delete seven of them was foolhardy in my opinion.

My stance on ageing is simple. Look good for your age category. Obviously teens and 20’s don’t have too much to worry about as Mother Nature is on their side, but once you hit your 30’s tougher action needs to be taken other than manipulating your birth year. Some go for non-invasive procedures such as Botox and fillers, myself I prefer to rely on ingredient led skincare. Anything with lifting and tightening gets my full attention.

My newest discovery is La Prairie Skin Caviar Liquid Lift. If you’re looking for the Bentley of serums, this is it. It’s an experience opening its grand silver cylinder, whereby the hallowed cobalt blue bottled serum is proudly mounted on grey felt. As its name suggests, it offers the highest concentration of pure Caviar Extract of any of their skincare treatments with the added va-va-voom of being combined with a unique Recovery Complex that alters the skin’s basic structure for long-term firmness.

Before I continue let me tell you the price tag. £304. Yes, that’s right, you’ve read it right. £304! I’m mentioning this early in the copy, rather than at the end so you get over the shock. But in its defence – it’s bloody marvellous! The minute you pump and apply, the skin looks smoother – almost de-stressed. There’s no tightening sensation on the skin, so it doesn’t leave your skin feeling unnatural. Skin feels nourished thanks to its combination of vitamins, nucleic acids, phospholipids, proteins and Omega-3 fatty acids. Without getting too technical there’s also an exciting new pentapeptide and an exclusive Cellular Complex all of which add up to making it a deluxe five star skin experience. My husband has noticed a difference. Now that’s a miracle! I wouldn’t say I look younger, but most definitely fresher in  tone and somehow my skin looks like it’s had a daily yoga workout. As for the price? It does work out less than a £1 a day for the whole year!

La Prairie Skin Caviar Liquid Lift available from Urban Retreat at Harrods, Selfridges and selected House of Fraser stores.

Aveda's sole-ful massage

A NON-BROOM CUPBOARD LIKE ROOM

A HEALTHY BREW

Things that make a good massage. A room bigger than a broom cupboard. A warm room. Soft and fluffy towels. Relaxing music that’s not Enya. Oils that don’t smell synthetic. I’m happy to say all of these were massively boxed ticked at the Aveda Institute Salon and Spa in Covent Garden where I had booked in for an Elemental Natural full body massage. But what really swung it for me was my spa therapists, Isar’s feet. Many times I have lain on my front with my head poking through the face hole only to be confronted with shabby feet. Isar’s were immaculate. Her flip flopped feet were buffed and polished whereupon I knew who ever looked after their feet this good, will look after me too!

SOLE-FUL FEET

Fittingly, the massage started off with a foot soak and scrub (along with a herbal tea) whereupon I was  blissfully massaged for an hour. Blissful to me is a firm deep tissue massage, and that’s exactly what I got. It’s customised too. Isar felt knots in my shoulders so duly spent more time trying to loosen them. It’s hard to say what makes a good massage, as a firm pressure for one can be too light for another, but the laying of confident hands is a good sign and I knew from the first touch, Isar’s skills came from within. There are some therapists that appear to go through the motions, but without sounding too plinky plonky, this was a massage that came from the soul – or should I say sole?

Elemental Nature Full Body Massage, £83 for 60 minutes.

www.avedainstitute.co.uk

Tel: 020 7759 7355

Very delicious. Very Estee.

Holey Moley! The scent-ometer is beginning to climb sky high leading up to Christmas. Fragrance barons are hoping to tempt our pulse points with their latest perfumed potions. Far from being over ambitious with their bottle and packaging, I very much like the olfactory message from Estee Lauder’s Very Estee. This all new, contemporary floral woody musk is both stylish, simple and confident in its approach. Lauder puts the wearer as a trendsetter, but definitely playing to her own rules.

 

Sometimes its hard to move a classic brand forward, both in mindset and spirit, but Very Estee has creatively managed it by still capturing the heritage of the brand – after all who would want to hide such a rich dynasty? whilst introducing a more modern take for the sophisticated perfume wearer. As for the fragrance, top notes of lotus and freesia along with the sparkle of juicy cassis meet middle notes of Bulgarian rose oil, jasmine petal, with a  sensual dry-down of sandalwood and cashmere wood accord.

SUPERMODEL, HILARY RHODA

 

As for the advertising hook, model Hilary Rhoda smoulders sexy and warm. Somehow, this fragrance smells like a brunette. Sophisticated and  sexy with a grown-up dark side!

 

Very Estee available from November from £40 for 30ml.
www.esteelauder.co.uk