I decided that I wanted to give John Frieda Precision Foam Colour a go.
Then I chickened out and got a friend of mine to try it. Continue reading
Month: July 2012
How Did It Do? Passionate from Lush Emotional Brilliance
This photo was taken about two hours after application.
Well, it’s true. You’re just going to have to take my word for it.
That is pretty incredible pigment, isn’t it?
I will say, that as with most matte finish lip colour, the gob felt dry. I hadn’t even blotted the initial application, so I did that — two hours later — and then added a touch of lip balm.
It lasted about another hour, until which time I had had a sandwich. This couldn’t withstand a sandwich. But! I bet if you had a salad and ate it reallllly carefully, this would not budge.
I am very keen to collect a few of these colours…
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Passionate Liquid Lipstick from Lush: Emotional Brilliance, €17.95
Lush Emotional Brilliance: Change Your Face, Change Your Attitude
Last night, I was applying some of Lush’s gorgeous Celestial: Heavenly Moisturiser for Sensitive Skin — not that my skin is all that sensitive, but this cream is so soothing and gorgeous, it feels really dreamy, which is perfect for entering the dreamtime… anyway, I was doing that, and thinking to myself, I haven’t blogged about Lush in a while…
This morning, I got a Lush delivery in the post!
I must be psychic or something.
Well known for their skin care and bath ballistics, Lush are venturing into the realm of cosmetics with a typically holistic approach. Emotional Brilliance uses colour therapy and behavioural therapy to allow users to enhance not only their faces, but their moods and attitudes.
So: you look at the wheel and respond to the first three colours that jump out at you. There are words that correspond with the colours — like Passionate, Sophisticated, Fantasy — and these words will be significant for you at the time of choosing. Then! In using the colours, you fulfill a need or amplify a specific talent or quality that you have, but may have been neglecting.
I think it is dead cool, and I totally believe it. For example: I’ve started wearing less black-coloured clothes in favour or more colourful ones, and I can really see a difference in the way that people respond to me. It’s a chakra thing, into which I will go into further depth when I start talkin’ ’bout my Reiki practice {soon!}
Lush’s new line features lip colours, eyeliners and eyeshadows. The variety of shades on offer point to timelessness: this is less trend-driven, and more about the sorts of tones and hues that will never do you wrong.
Here is a picture of Passionate lip colour:
The packaging is a departure for Lush, who usually try to not have any packaging at all. Everything about the containers is recyclable, and even reusable. I’m not sure if you can go back and get refills, that sounds unlikely and unwieldy.
Here it is, applied:
It felt a bit grainy to start, but then I reckoned it was more likely that my lips needed a good exfoliating. I’ve been sporting it for the last 40 minutes or so, and it feels super light.
There’s something alchemical about the whole shebang: the bottles, the colour theory. It’s fun!
I received several samples, including one of Fantasy Eyeliner and Sophisticated Cream Eyeshadow. All of these retail for €17.95 each. There’s a supplementary line of powder, skin tints, and Eyes Right Mascara, which is shown at left. Hmmm. That makes me nervous for no good reason… Mascara in a bottle? The applicator is a traditional brush, which gave me comfort. I think I was expecting a brush, like something olde-timey? I dunno, whatever, we’ll see.
The line launches on 21 July, and there are thirteen lip colours, two no-smudge eyeliners, eleven smudgeable ones, and six eye creams.
I can never get a good photo of colour swatches, but I’ve just stroked some of the eyeliner and some of the cream eyeshadow on my hand, and the pigment is exxxxtreme. Cannot wait to play with this stuff!
As Seen in The Wild: Chubby Stick in Pudgy Peony
In my usual spot in the back of the 46A, wearing my ‘summer’ turquoise pashmina, and Clinique’s Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour in Pudgy Peony.
Given all the variables — camera phone, crappy cloudy weather, and back of the bus — that is an excellent representation of the excellence of that colour.
How does it last? Well, don’t eat a sandwich and expect it to be unmoved. The thing is, it probably lasts perfectly well, but it feels so nice and soothing and yes, moisturizing on application, that I keep applying it. Even when I don’t need to.
And just so you know… Chubby Sticks For Eyes are launching in the autumn! Much excite! Maybe I can finally do a decent smoky eye, look at that black one! Also love the fourth from the left, the bronze-y one… Hey! Can a whole Chubby face {blush, highlighter, and even foundation} be far behind?!?
{Also, seriously: HD Brows. Do it, do it, do it.}
Hey, What Colour is Your Chubby?
Or is that a really personal question? Ha ha haaaaa.
Seriously. I did not get the love that I saw swirling all over Twitter a couple of weeks ago for Clinique’s Chubby Stick, and I felt really left out. Adding insult to injury, I pouted rather magnificently in my left-outness, and had no way of emphasizing it.
The thing was, I had gotten two different samples of the utterly cult-y Moisturising Lip Colour Balm, and I didn’t like either of the colours. One was the Fuller Fig, which just too brown, and the other one, I’m not even sure, it may have been the Woppin’ Watermelon, but it was so pale, it was pointless.
Yesterday, I got my hands on one of the new colours. Behold, at left, Pudgy Peony, which is amazing: the pigment is spectacular, the coverage perfection, and the level of moisturising is out of this world.
So now I totally get it! And yes, these are the best things ever! Yay!
***
€19/£16/$16
Sleep-In Rollers: Later That Day…
Now, in fairness:
I didn’t even so much as comb this hair, and even if it is not big and bouncy, it still does look as though I have at least flat ironed it. This is significant because my hair is this half-arsed wavy affair and it never does ‘flat’ by itself.
Still not convinced it was worth the discomfort. There are some great recs in the comments from yesterday’s post, go and have a look. Cherry Sue, who blogs here, thinks that sporting the Sleep-In Rollers during the day might do the trick; Portia blogs at Australian Perfume Junkies {awesome!} and has a brilliant idea re: minimizing the pain and still getting the benefit of the whole rolling-up thing.
Also considering that The Hair had been washed the day before, taken out to dinner, and then rolled up and slept on… I don’t know, I think that needs to be taken into account.
Also: documenting The Hair provided endless amusement to commuters who were waiting for the LUAS at Ballyogan. Who’s yer wan? She keeps taking pictures of herself!
Here at Bright & Beautyfull! we do what we can to lift everyone’s spirits, on and off t’internet.
The Curly Hair Nightmare: The Morning After
Well, it wasn’t like laying my head in the lap of an angel: the Sleep-In Rollers, vaunted for being painless, weren’t the most comfortable things I’ve ever slept in, in my life. Less horrible than those clippy, foam-y yokes from childhood, and undoubtedly less tortuous than pincurls, there was still interference between the big, pink, slightly spiky curlers on my head and the pillow.
Now, I tend to fall asleep like a tiny little baby, with my hands around my head. This is a Reiki thing {more about this anon!}, meaning I am giving myself healing as I head into slumber. This posture helped me manage the foreign objects on my head: I smashed them sort of parabolically, and they were less annoying. It wasn’t like they caused pain — so that claim is true! — but come on, they are feckin’ awkward.
I had crazzzzzzzzzzzzy dreams: at one stage I was hanging out poolside with Lindsay Lohan, whom I called ‘Linds’, and her hair wasn’t very nice, but I didn’t think to recommend the rollers. There was some older dude who kept applying mascara, to his own eyes, not the eyes of Linds, and I borrowed it {?!?!?} and it was clear, which was completely weird and even in the weird dream, I knew it was weird. But I used it anyway!
I was expecting all sorts of carnage in the morning, but everything was really well in place.
{How cool is that photo?}
I see there’s something of a gap, and I probably should have used less hair per roll, but I get so bored so fast.
Not bad, though, I mean, you’re going to get stray hairs straggling out, so no big deal. I am, in fact quite impressed.
Roll on the rollout! This was a bit tricky, because the reasons that the rollers held so well is because they are prickly; as a result, they don’t unwind without some yanking. This is not so good for the curls. Inevitably, some hair got re-wrapped on the roller as I worked its way out my hair.
The first few locks were not looking impressive, but by the time I was done…
This is just finger-combed out. Not bad! Not curly, but definitely wavy, and maybe a 4.5 on the Big Hair Scale.
Hmmm. You know what, this result is only okay, and after all the rolling and the tossing and turning and running around in the dreamtime with Lindsay Lohan, I would have liked to look like I’d just woken up in the pages of Grazia.
My hair is very thin, and I can’t see this making it through a whole day of going out into windy, wet weather. I am also too afraid to comb it out because I think it will just flop.
Also: how is a male bed partner not going to laugh himself sick at the head on you? Unless he has a grá for one of the TOWIE‘s. And… yeah, let’s not go there.
Verdict: Eh. I mean, my hair has flippiness inherent in it, due to the cut. There is more body to it, which is cool, but I really am not convinced that this was worth it…
The Curly Hair Nightmare: All Rolled Up
I said I was gonna do it, so I’m doin’ it. All Sleep-In Rollered up and ready to go.
I am seriously challenged in this area, and I have to say, these rolled up like a dream. And in the instances in which I wanted to like, try to roll half my head of hair onto one roller — which is why I am challenged in this area — the roller wouldn’t let me? In that it became immediately apparent that it wasn’t going to work, so I let a lock {or two, or three} fall away.
Got some bobby pins at the €2 store and jabbed them in without too much trouble.
I look exactly like one of those ladies on google! Or in TOWIE!
They feel light, but then, I have yet to lay my head down upon my pillow…
See you on the flipside.
The Curly Hair Nightmare: Will Sleep-In Rollers Give Me Sweet Dreams?
The big thing in hair in the last few weeks have been things that you put in your hair and then go to sleep.
Sleep-In Rollers are meant to be a super fantastic way to limit one’s GHD use, meaning: protect the hair from getting all fried, without giving up that big, bouncy, curly, big hair look. So, a potentially big leap forward for big hair.
Look! Very pink:
If you google sleep in rollers {or even sllep in rollers, like I did} you can see a bunch of pictures of people with the rollers in their hair, and not too many of them with big, bouncy curls.
CherrySue Doin the Do has tried them and will be posting her results — just keep checking in and give her a million hits.
I am going to give these a try tonight, but I feel like I am maybe experiencing PTSD, because I am feeling all sorts of feelings. Feelings of dread, to be precise. I had a childhood of sleep riven with stabby pains in the head from those old-fashioned foamy things with the pink clips. Remember those?
Which, OMG, you can buy on Amazon right now?!?! Oh, also! Pin curls! Holy God, what a nightmare: hanks of hair twisted up and secured with a crisscross of bobby pins stabbed through the scalp!
I may need to seek professional help.
Well, look, we’ll hope for the best. Good thing I read the packaging, as my memories called up damp hair twisted around those follicular torture chambers — these specify clean, dry hair.*
Okay! See you tomorrow with whatever kind of hair I end up with!
***
*Although I am thinking that second day hair with some dry shampoo at the roots might work better…? That’s an experiment for another day.
***
Sleep-In Rollers are available on http://www.cloud10beauty.com for €20.45
Haiku Review: Phyt’s Radiance Facial
Oh my God! Oh, my!
God! Nothing like a facial
To soothe your whole self.
Phyt’s is a French brand, and first came to Ireland in 2007. It’s chemical-free, paraben-free, not tested on animals, and the packaging is 100% recyclable. I’ve had a few of the products cross my desk over the last few years, and wasn’t terribly interested in them. More recently, I got a sample of the Ativ’ Peel, a facial exfoliant, and that, I liked loads: it foams up nicely, which allows the granules to distribute gently but thoroughly, and it has a 
lovely lemon-y scent. So when news of the Virginie Claire Beauty Centre’s Bastille Day special, running from 9-14 July came in the email, and a voucher for the 60 minute Radiance Facial came in the post, I duly followed through.
Oh, sure, I said to myself, ‘Radiance’ Facial, uh huh. I think I cultivate my cynicism because I am perversely delighted to be proven wrong. After all these years, I tell myself that I am inured to the all the bells and whistles that accompany beauty marketing — I suppose I am, superficially, but deep down, I am ready and willing to be shocked and awed.
I was entirely all of the latter following my treatment. Is this an outcome specific to the quality of Phyt’s products? Is it the wholly down to the prowess of Virginie Claire, the proprietress herself? Or, is it my willingness to give myself over to the process?
It’s probably all three, and that last one interests me, because it is in direct contradiction to the whole cynicism thing. So maybe I am not really cynical.
Long story short: at the end of the facial, I sat up and looked at my face in the mirror and laughed because it was like I was standing centre stage in Carnegie Hall under a spotlight, my face looked that clear and bright and lit up. In a word… radiant.
***
There really is nothing like wrapping up in a terry-cloth tube-top and lying down on a massage table. Every synapse in my brain takes this as a cue to to just relaaaaax, and my whole body follows suit. It’s amazing how much of the tension we feel ends up in our faces. As Virginie began the treatment with a comprehensive cleanse, tone, and exfoliation, I could feel the boulders that had been collecting in my jaw begin to disintegrate. As a result, the clenching in my forehead released — and I felt that release all the way down to my neck. Wild.
Next came a real highpoint: application of Serum Capyl-Rose, massage-style. This was perfection, and Virginie paid particular attention to the area around the eyes. I’m not entirely sure what happened next, because then I got a shoulder/arm/upper back massage, and I went away to my happy place.
Highest highpoint? The Aqua Peel-Off Mask, which is it bit pongy with rosemary, but otherwise feels like it is coolly and soothingly getting right down to the bottom of your pores and cleaning them out. And: oh! The sensation when it is peeled off your face, in one piece! So satisfying! Unfortunately, kids, you can’t try this one at home; I asked as soon as I was able to form thoughts again, and Virginie said it’s too messy — she tried it herself and even she, a professional, found it too fiddly to do on one’s own.
In other details: the salon is super quiet for a day-spa-type place, certainly the quietest I have encountered yet; Virginie is supremely well-informed and up-front about things, as well as being knowledgeable and personable and adept; I took the 16 bus from Camden Street as was at the centre in ten minutes.
Did you realise that both American and French Independence days are in the summer? We had a laugh about that: if either revolution had failed, at least they could have fecked off to the beach.
Is that cynical? Nah, just practical, right? Anyway: yet another failure to be disenchanted! Success!
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Special offer Radiance Facial: €45; good until 14 July.
Virginie Claire is located at 255 Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6; 01 4978833
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