Clarins blooms for spring

THE IRIS. A FLOWER OF INTENSE BEAUTY

Just had to do a short and sweet post on Clarins two star products for their gorgeous spring colours inspired by the beauty of the Iris flower.

The Limited Edition Face & Blush Powder, £30 (below) has the Iris imprinted on the trio of complexion enlivening shades to give skin a spring glow and even tone. A silky-smooth compact, simply whirl a soft brush over to pick up all shades and dust over the face. The Light-Optimizing + Complex reduces the intensity of lines and imperfections for a flawless finish.

The Limited Edition Eye Quartet Mineral Palette, £30 (above) is a line up of four shimmering mineral eye shades. The Iris is a 'showy' flower and this reflects in the shades of an intense plum, white highlighter, nutmeg brown and a deep black liner. Smudge, blend and shade for a bewitching eye.

In store now or online at www.clarins.co.uk

Shampoo with science

COULD WATER BE YOUR HAIR BREAKER?

It’s amazing how water can make or break you hair. I can always tell the difference when holidaying somewhere ‘soft’ in terms of water, say Cornwall where my hair acts in a completely different way to it does in London. In otherwords, before product help, the texture of my hair can swing from feeling rough and tangled in a hard water area to lank and no-can-do to a soft water area. Whether hard or soft water runs from your shower head there’s now a shampoo line that actively works with your water type to give you more manageable hair.

MY NEW WATER BABIES

Area H20 are products that attracts the metal ions that are present in every water type and allows you to wash them away easily before they react with your shampoo to form deposits. Developed by London hairdresser, Patrick Lehane along with biochemists, it’s a line that results in cleaner, better behaved hair. More than just shampoo psychobabble, it does work. My hair came away from the shower feeling cleaner, squeaky even after shampooing. Whilst blow-drying my hair literally felt lighter. The press release throws science at me in terms of insoluble salt resides for hard water and sodium content and desalinated water for soft, but essentially my hair is just telling me it likes this shampoo and conditioner. It doesn’t feel stripped, dehydrated or wrung through the wash, it just feels nice. And isn’t that what we all want from our shampoo and conditioner?

Area H20 Hard, Medium or Soft Water Shampoo for Normal to Fine Hair, £9.95

Area H2) Hard, Medium or Soft Water Shampoo for Coloured Hair, £9.95

H20 Hard, Medium or Soft Water Conditioner, £9.95

Each variant is also available in duo packs at £17.50

Available from www.AreaH20.co.uk

Posh lips

 

There’s lipstick and then there’s lipstick. And when Tom Ford slam dunks the beauty world with a collection of ten new lip shades you know you're in for a treat.

 

As you would expect from a perfectionist - I've heard his attention to detail is second to none, the collection is nothing but beautiful. To the way it looks to the way it applies. A hybrid between a lipstick and a gloss, the bullet slides across the lips to create a semi-transparent, hi-shine veil of colours that imparts sensuality, and moisturises the lips something wonderful. That may just be the ingredients of chamomilla flower oil and Brazilian murumuru butter.  The finish is mwah! Willful, a gorgeous orange red shade hasn’t been off my lips since I discovered it two weeks ago.

 

As for colour, lips will knock themselves out with the range of shades. Cherry pick from neutrals, through to pinks and vivids. At £36 they cash in more than your average lipstick, but who wants average?

 

Stockists: 0870 034 2566

 

 

 

Bourjois has an eye for a trend

CASSIE IN ACTION

It’s always a pleasure hooking up with Cassie Lomas, chief make-up artist for Bourjois. Chatty, friendly and passionate about make-up, Cassie is an insider that has the ability to take a trend and make it beautifully wearable. Witness her 60’s eye with a twist for the look she created for Clements Ribeiro’s SS13 look.

AN EYE FOR A TREND

“I wanted to create the perfect retro shade of powder blue eyeshadow,” reveals Cassie. “For this I mixed two products together – a creamy Metallise eyeliner pencil in shade Bleu Clinquant Metallise, £4.99 with a little touch of Healthy Mix Brush Concealer, £8.49 into the colour on the back of my hand. I then smudge the shade across the eyelids.” To set the colour Cassie dabbed a little Bourjois Round Pot Eyeshadow in their just-launched shade 17 – a very pretty azure powder blue. When I dropped into her masterclass that showed how to replicate the runway look, Cassie up-swung the trend further by lining the lash line with Bourjois’s Pinceau Liner, £6.99. “Wing out so it looks graphic and strong, not Pat Butcher,” Cassie reveals. 

THE RUNWAY LOOK SHEET

The rest of the face was kept super simple using the much feted Healthy Mix Serum Foundation, £10.99 which Cassie buffs onto the skin using a fluffy brush. Lips were played down with a slick of Rouge Edition Lipstick in nude. The result? Retro gorgeous!

Darphin adds to its skin arsenal

FLOWERS FROM THE LAUNCH TO ILLUSTRATE THE BLOOM OF YOUTH!

Magazines may tell us 30 is the new 20, but we just wish our brain receptors would tell our skin! Yep, 30 and beyond are great ages, more experience, more wisdom, more settled... but it’s also a time when there’s more changes to the skin.

The French brand, Darphin who have clocked up more than 50 yeas in anti-ageing expertise reveal that once we hit the big 3-0, skin flips from youthful to needy. Lines start appearing around the eyeline, forehead and mouth. That pink cheeked perkiness loses its radiance and skin’s bank of youthful resources is gradually depleted. Although emergency measures aren’t needed, help certainly is, which is why this month they’re introducing two skincare innovations in their Ideal Resource skincare line. Cleverly called the Wrinkle Minimizer Perfecting Serum and the Micro-refining Smoothing Fluid – who wouldn’t want a bit of this skin treatment jargon? They both profess to give a triple action of targeting radiance, lines and texture.

THE PERFECT SKIN COUPLE

Kapow! At the heart of both products is their hard working botanical trio called The Line Polish Complex. Knotweed, White Hibiscus and Centella Asiatica all dance together and support the natural cell renewal of the skin, smooth the appearance of winkles and help to minimise imperfections. In tests, 35% saw an instant result in radiance, and after four weeks, 29% of women said skin texture had improved in terms of softness and less visible pores.

The Wrinkle Miminizer Perfecting Serum, £59 works specifically on lines. Rich in Tannin Tree Extract, it helps support the skin’s natural collagen fibres.

The Micro-refining Smoothing Fluid, £50 feels like velvet and helps the sloughing of dull skin, much like an exfoliator. It’s ideal for the 40% of women over the age of 25 who have combination or oily skin as it boasts shine control powers.

The Ideal Resource Line is available from selection Darphin salons and online from 6^th February.

www.darphin.co.uk

Dior's nail encore

These Dior new spring varnishes are the equivalent to the first heads of daffodils making their appearance in the garden. Although not yellow, their ballerina like colours signal lighter and brighter days, a spring in your step and the promise of sunshine to come.

Like a line up at The Royal Ballet, Tutu, Gris Trianon and Rosy Bow are names to evoke the most delicate of shades. But far from looking pale and uneventful, each shade is punctuated with a level of pop to leave nails looking glossy and seductive. Worthy of a  fingertip encore!

Dior Vernis, £18 each 

Your new luxury essentials

PRETTY BRONZE ILLUMINATING POWDER

I’ve been aware of the Aerin Essentials Collection since it launched last year, but haven’t experienced it up close and personal until recently. Let’s just say, there’s something to be said about delayed gratification! The granddaughter of make-up royalty, Estee Lauder, Aerin has been working in the family ‘firm’ since 1992 and has used her knowledge and experience of luxury cosmetics to create her very own self penned brand, Aerin.

ROSE HAND AND BODY CREAM

Aerin’s Essentials Collection maybe a capsule range, but looks and performs anything but limited. Designed to be the products we just can’t do without, the skillfully edited range includes a Pretty bronze Illuminating Powder, £34 that whips up an Aerin like just-been-weekending-at-the Hamptons beach blush look, Multi Color for Lips and Cheeks in Natural £30 that breezily washes both with radiant colour, Fresh Skin Compact Makeup £37, that masquerades not only as a buildable foundation, but a concealer too, and the delightful Rose Hand and Body Cream £36. For the make-up pros amongst you, there’s the five Brush Essentials for spot-on application too.

CREATOR, AERIN LAUDER

Aerin definitely has the ‘ooh’ factor. Compacts come in soft pink suede, drawstring pouches, the compacts themselves are dressing table desirable, and the hand cream is now a permanent fixture on my desk. No tucking away in the drawer for this tube as the pink floral design deserves to be admired.  These Essentials are to stay in the range, but look out for her additional seasonal launches for more cosmetic collectables this spring. 

Aerin Essentials Collection available from selected John Lewis, Harrods and Selfridges