number crunching

A name popped up on my Facebook page this week that I recognised from way back when. Curious, I clicked on her profile to see what she was up to. Now, when I knew her she was always a year older than myself. But miraculously over the decades she had become six years younger! How did that happen? Did she accidentally find Dr Who’s Tardis and transport herself back in time?

Being an age deceiver is hard. I know she would be celebrating a life worthy birthday soon, so how is she going to hide that from her work colleagues and friends that didn’t know her twenty years ago? If an age dodger, before you know it you’re wrapping yourself up in a whole load of fiction – or to put it more bluntly, you become a liar.  Why would she knock six years off anyway? Does she think she acts younger, looks younger or because she works in a creative industry her real age would prejudice against her? Or does she think she will come across as worldly for her age? After all she has banked additional life experience and using it whilst masquerading under a lower number.

It’s no big shock when actresses or TV personalities are caught fibbing about their age, as it’s more-or-less expected. But when a ‘normal’ person is caught juggling around with numbers, it can quickly become an embarrassment if you’re rumbled. And credibility is lost. After all, you must surely think, what else are they fibbing about?

The losing of youth is sometimes hard to face, but that’s life. Time ticks on and your age with it, unless of course you’re Benjamin Button. But seriously why not work your birth date with confidence, and when over 35 why not say it with aplomb, rather than with shame. You’d be surprised how much energy you free up. Really, isn’t it time to grow up about age?

bathing pleasures

My beauty affair with Korres was a holiday romance. Finding myself short on sun protection factor a few years back in Greece I picked up some of their sunscreen in a local pharmacy. It’s not an over statement to say it was love at first application. Since, their sunscreen has become one of my luxury vacation staples, and the minute I smell the fragrance it reminds me of happy times. One of the successes to a beauty product I feel.

So, with my loyalty points banked, I’m happy to tell you about two new products from the brand. The first is their Gentle Cleansing Soap Collection. I’m a sucker for a beautiful soap and these tick all my boxes. With their roots in homeopathy, I’m not surprised they contain no harsh chemicals and have a 95.9% natural content. Believing no one soap fits all, there are four to choose from. Pomegranate for oily skin (astringent properties); Chamomile softening soap (anti-inflammatory); Wheat face soap (contains B vitamins to promote health skin) and Milk for stressed skin (excellent moisturising properties). They can all be used for both the face and body without leaving the skin feeling high and dry after rinsing.

Next up is their Mango Shower Gel. Perfect for summer, the minute you flip open the top, the smell of sweet and succulent mangos takes hold. Teeming with wheat proteins, helping the skin to lock down much need moisture, it’s a gel that turns a quick shower into something altogether more exotic. Go buy!

Soaps cost £5 each and Mango Shower Gel, £7.50. For stockists call: 0870 850 3868

a scent worth cherry picking

There’s always a quickening of the heart whenever a package is delivered from Jo Malone HQ as I know I’m in for a beauty treat. This season’s fragrant offering doesn’t disappoint.
Sakura Cherry Blossom Cologne is a limited edition for spring and is inspired by the full bloom of the cherry tree. Indigenous to many East Asian states, every year the Japanese Meteorological Agency along with the public track the cherry blossom. The blossoming starts in Okinawa at the beginning of the year, reaching Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March. From there it creeps into areas at higher altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaido a few weeks later.  The Japanese keep a watchful eye on these forecasts and cluster in large numbers at parks, shrines and temples to hold flower viewing parties.

After finding out a little more about this sacred blossom, I was eager to try Christine Nagel’s (Master Perfumer) interpretation of the flower. It’s floral and powdery, most certainly, but yet not too sweet or overpowering, thanks to the olfactory taming of bergamot and mandarin. It’s unquestionably a romantic fragrance, but creative enough to be sophisticated.  Soft and warm when worn on the skin, the fragrance lingers throughout the day, wrapping you up in notes of happiness.

Sakura Cherry Blossom Cologne is available this month and costs £34 for 30ml and £68 for 100ml. www.jomalone.com

...just add a sprinkling of skin sparkle

When it comes to getting fresher and youthful looking skin the shortcut lays in exfoliation. Played out in its simplest form, it’s an act that will quickly remove dead cells on the skin’s surface to improve texture and give luminosity. The downside? You can over do it by mixing a smorgasbord of fix-it all ingredients and clinical inspired treatments, making the skin more fragile than a one ply tissue.

Catching up with Tom Ogden, brand manager of the cosmeceutical skincare company, Alpha-H, it’s easy to see why exfoliation can have the reserve effect of the radiant complexion you so desire. Just a quick word on Tom here: he is every beauty aficionados dream interview as a) he doesn’t stop talking – always a good sign when wanting information, b) he knows how to string a sentence together and gives great sound bites – another big  tick and c) he’s also a scriptwriter on the TV series Doctors! But getting back to the subject in hand, Tom reveals you can literally polish to infection. “Exfoliation is the cornerstone of any good skincare regime,” explains Tom, “but when people initially see the results, it can quickly turn addictive.” And it seems some people will try anything for that elusive glow. Tom recalls one woman he saw who had been cleansing with a nail brush. Not a good look! “Skin is a resilient organ,” says Tom, “but if you are consistently ‘wounding’ it with aggressive behaviour you are putting it at risk by breaking down the acid mantel. This is the oily film on the surface of the skin acting as a barrier against bacteria. If upset, you leave skin vulnerable to the threat of irritation and inflammation.” Every night your skin has to repair itself which it cannot do efficiently if the barrier has thinned from being ‘sandblasted’ away. Before long, your complexion looks injured rather than irresistible.

The newest offering from Alpha-H is their Gentle Daily Exfoliant which as the more observant amongst you will notice says you use every day. Only exfoliating two or three times a week, I was dubious. My skin being of a sensitive nature, I was worried it would appear over processed and prone to dryness. But not a bit of it! Let me tell you, it’s a quick way of getting rid of a groggy looking morning face. And the best thing, it’s doesn’t even feel like you’re scrubbing as there’s zero scratchiness. Why? Because it boasts a fruit enzyme formula (FYI unripe green papaya and the skin and leaves of pineapple) that’s water activated. This means you mix with water and it goes on like a smooth paste – so confident have I become, I now mingle two doses of powder in with my cleanser for a super boost and wash it off all in one go. Tom even suggests leaving it on for a few minutes to work as a drawing mask. With hand on heart, I can honestly say it brings a wake-me-up-before-you-go-go brightness to my skin and leaves it not a tad dry, flaky or red. Daily skin genius indeed.

Gentle Daily Exfoliant costs £32.50 and is available from this month from beautyexpert.co.uk, hqhair.com, lookfantastic.com and QVC.

slick lip pick

Dewy Papaya

Big fashion kisses to YSL for their truly scrumptious Volupte Sheer Candy Glossy Balm. When thinking lip balms, it’s usually a dab of a finger in a small pot and a smear on the lips. Job done. But for those wanting a sophisticated balm that guises itself quite beautifully as a lipstick, then look no further than this grown up version. Giving lips the supermodel treatment – hyaluronic acid microspheres trap water for a subtle pillow-ey pout, the bullet imparts a see-thru coloured gloss that settles comfortably on the lips with no sticky gloopiness. With no need to ‘paint’ on a lip, the look is fresh, sexy and altogether mouth-watering.

Available in six fruity colours with names such as Lush Coconut and Succulent Pomegranate, they cost £21 each and are available from Harrods and House of Fraser. Available nationwide 23^rd June.

the fantastic four

FOUR'S HEAD GIRLS

When it comes to hair, it’s normally stylists that grab all the headlines, but although I’m not stealing their credit, I personally think it’s the colourists who wield the real power at the salon. Skilfully applied colour turns heads. No question. A trade of shade can do more for your complexion than any blusher as well as make hair look thicker, richer and shinier along with sky rocketing confidence levels.

Step forward FOUR. A new salon in London opened by four female colourists previously from Jo Hansford. With a reputation of being amongst the top colour technicians in town, the go getting girls have also sourced a dream team of top stylists to work alongside them, guaranteeing million dollar hair when you leave their (ever so) swanky salon. Here I caught up with them to talk self dyed blondes, squabbles and savvy techniques.

Hello girls’ can you introduce yourselves?

I’m Maleeka, the organiser. I’m Charlie, the party girl. I’m Brooke who’s IT illiterate, and I’m Denise, a mum!

You all specialise in luxe colour, but what really makes hair colour turn heads?

The expertise of the colourist in colour placement and understanding their client. Using professional products to make sure the colour locks in is key too as it prevents premature colour fade.

What questions should a colourist always ask their client?

How much time are they willing and able to devote to the up keep of their colour? Maintenance is the secret of great looking colour.

What colour crimes do people commit?

Once colour has been professionally done, some clients think it’s okay to maintain by touching up with home colour. They don’t understand that home colour products are totally different to salon professional products. We repair a lot of colour mistakes that are the result of not being in-the-know about the use of home colour.

Which celebrity colour do you admire?

Jennifer Aniston’s hair colour always looks fabulous, like she’s just stepped out of the hairdressers. Yasmin Le Bon – a client of ours, always maintains her hair on a regular basis to make sure it shines and her roots are never showing.

What techniques do you use that raises your colour game?

The one thing we don’t do is bleach bath hair for instant colour change results. If we did clients would be taking their hair home in their handbag! What we do is use a very unique product that allows us to gently lift the hair without damage.

As four directors, do you girls’ ever argue?

What do you think? Yes, we do and we take turns in winning! But seriously, we never close up for the night on an argument.

Can you let us in on a few key trends for summer?

Mad Men’s Betty Draper is setting the trend that has not only inspired Louis Vuitton’s complete collection this season, but has also been responsible for the swarm of women gliding their supermarket trollies down the ‘do-it-yourself-box-blonde’ aisles in the hope of imitating a little of her Grace Kelly look. Don’t do it. Orange brassy hair tones will just make you look mad! Always get it professionally done.

For those whose skin tone may not sit well with Buttercup Blonde, we have a trendful of other options including Peachey Blonde and Light Coppery Blonde that work well using our

Four Way

and Freehand Foiling techniques. For darker hair think Baked Brunette, Bourbon and Tequila Tints. A winner on any menu!

FOUR 62 Conduit Street, London

W1S 2GB. Tell: 0207 297 9600 www.fourlondon.com

a well tuned ear for better training

When you discover something that improves your workout along with your motivation, it’s usually a fantabulous piece of workout gear, a pair of trainers, or maybe a hot looking personal coach that keeps you coming back for more! For me, it’s none of these things, but a piece of ear equipment that really has made me train faster and better. For years I’ve lost count of the number of earphones I’ve gone through. The cord is either too short making running on the treadmill tricky if you’re plugged into the TV, the plugs fall out of my ears  whereby I have to stop my training to put them back in again, or the audio is just so muffled it’s irritating listening to anything. Then these landed on my desk. Flex headsets from Radiopaq. Okay, they’re a pair of earphones, at first glance they don’t seem very exciting, but boy have they changed my workout. For starters they have a semi flexible ear hook which instantly solves the problem of them falling out. The silicone earphones come in three different sizes and are comfy to wear – this makes a big difference as wearing awkward fitting earplugs is like wearing a pair of too big shoes. And as for the sound quality, it’s superb. What more can I say? They’re my Mr Motivator!

Flex Headsets cost £24.99 from www.radiopaqproducts.com