Month: October 2012

Nail it! Until Tomorrow with Clarins

/ MANY BRAVE FOOLS / Leave a comment

Since I am caring more for my hands these days — and ‘caring’ is code for ‘desperately trying to avert disaster’ — this offer from Clarins caught my eye.

And it certainly can’t fail to catch yours! Weee, that is massive. Suitably so, as the offer is all in the name of charities, in the name of three, in fact:

> Jack & Jill Foundation
> Debra Ireland
> The Irish Raynauds & Scleroderma Society

And you needn’t go way out of your way either, as the offer is good in your local Doc Morris or Sam McCauleys, and in CH Chemist in Tralee and Petals Beauty Salon in Westport, for southern and western readers, respectively.

Seriously, it couldn’t be easier if they came to your house!

Plus, oh my canny gals: you get the treatment and then maybe you put aside the wee gift for someone’s stocking, or for the dreaded Secret Santy…?

The offer is good until tomorrow. Sorry so late on the update, crayzee bizzy kthxbai.

Watchoo Lookin’ At? Post-Sisley Facial Face on the 46A

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

Just evidence that I do ‘naked’ face too, sometimes. Especially after I’ve had a treatment.

Dude to the left was like WTF and I was all WTF right back.

And the lovely Gabriella from Sisley, who administered an amazing facial in the Beauty Rooms in Brown Thomas, was subtly WTF when I said no thanks to a bitta make up post-treatment.

I like to let the pores breathe, you know?

Did you know about the Beauty Rooms in Brown Thomas? I didn’t! They are tucked away on the ground floor, right off the main beauty hall, and the major brands offer treatments on a rotating basis. The facial is €50 against product, so if you don’t want to buy anything, you just stump up the nifty.

Now, day spa environments are generally noisy, and whilst tucked away from the buzz of BT, you’re not all that tucked. There is soothing spa tunes playing in the room, but you can absolutely hear what’s going on in the outside world. This did not bother me, which is amazing because it is exactly the sort of thing I would complain about. There was something about hearing all that activity beyond the beauty room door that I found thrilling, in a cinematic way. It was the urban soundtrack to my fancy facial.

And Sisley is fancy! The French brand uses botanical active ingredients and essential oils in its concoctions — I must admit to having an unfortunate olfactory reaction to a tinted moisturiser I had to test last year. I actually brought it to the counter because I’d thought it had gone off.

No such worries with any of the myriad products that Gabriella used in my facial. She used twelve products, from cleanser to pore minimiser, and since it was the end of the day, she also gave me a layer of Supremÿa At Night, which felt like an instant face lift, and ought to as it retails for €508.

…

If anyone has used this over a course of time, do get in touch and let us know if it was worth it?

The highlight of the treatment was the exfoliation with the Creme Gommante, priced at a less breathtaking €54. Gently, gently, Gabriella applied the buffing cream, and gently, gently, did she brush it off. We talked about it afterwards, as I wondered how did one try this at home? By trial and error, basically. It’s going to be messy until you get the hang of it. I appreciated her frankness.

I got a bunch of samples:

Including two of the scorned foundation, which I am actually gasping to try now.

The women of Sisley in BTs are lovely, go along and ask some questions, and tell them Sue sent you. You may not have the dosh to invest in that night cream, but it’s always worth checking out a few samples of things. And the holidays are imminent…!

***

Check at the Sisley counter for upcoming Beauty Room appointments.

Out, Damned Spot! Clinique Even Better Hand Cream

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

At a launch last week, I was testing product on the backs of my hands, as you do, and noticed something new. Not as ‘woo, hoo, new!’, as in: dammit.

An age spot! Damn, damn, damn! And others incipient on the back of my left hand!

Damn.

Well, look, part of life and all that noise, but I have something — ha, ha — to hand that I am going to start using with the same devotion and focus I gave to the Dr Lewinn’s Nail Strengthening regime.

Behold: Clinique Even Better Dark Spot Correcting Hand Cream. Now, two things. I suppose that all the words were meant to be lower case as per Clinique Style, but it looks too weird in prosy type. <Something like that is probably only important to me {Brenda McC might care, also} but it had to be said.

Second: I don’t use hand cream hardly ever, except when I have to try and test them. My hands don’t suffer from dryness. Unfortch, they now appear to be suffering from spots!

Dammit!

So far? The product presents with excellent absorption and coverage; and whilst not sweetened with the perfumes of Arabia, it has the usual clean, fresh, Clinique-y scent.

So, yeah: I intend to age gracefully, and that involves gracefully applying this stuff so that I don’t age with spotty hands.

Out, I say!

***

€22.50/£22.50/$35

What I Was Going to Put on My Face Yesterday

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

And what actually got there.

I suspect that a lot of people who don’t like to wear make up are put off by how much you have to put on. I totally get that! I’d argue about the ‘have to’ so much as ‘choose to’, and particularly with the advent of BB creams — more about them, someday, hopefully before they get replaced by something else even more allegedly magical — you don’t really have to trowel on the slap to get a look that is ‘you’, just all shined up.

And yet. Even I was rather appalled when I laid out everything I thought I’d put on my face yesterday afternoon:

In the words of my very first Mac Classic: Eep! We’ve got your Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation, which is on tap to review for my tried & tested column in the Herald; Sisley Instant Primer, which I didn’t fancy so much the first time I tried, but wanted to give it a second chance; new Maybelline Colossal Smoky Eyes Mascara; a gorgeous palette from Yves Saint Laurent, as seen on new representative Face, Jessica Chastain — this will make me look just like her; a YSL illuminator pen thing, for around the eyes; Sisley lipgloss, with the option of the NYC lipstick; Dr Hauschka Illuminating Powder, even though I am not a huge fan of loose powder… And a whole bunch of eye pencils that I can’t even see what they are. And an AVON lipstick I found in a coat pocket. And the Shine So Bright from Lush.

No blush, I thought, since it was going to be all about the Smoky Eye.

Also not pictured, the combination I am using on the brows at the moment as the HD Brow dye wears off: Speed Brow by BeneFit, and the super excellent AVON Glimmerstick Brow Definer in Soft Brown.

Then I lost my nerve.

See, I had to go to the theatre to review a show, and it was opening night at the Abbey, and there would be loads of people I knew, and I didn’t want to pitch up looking like Morticia Addams. I don’t have a lot of confidence in my Smoky-Eye-creating ability, so I ditched the entire plan, and feel back on the one I am liking so much at the moment:

Red lipstick. Can’t put much else on the face when you are working that, IMHO. Went with everything as planned, primer-foundation-powder-wise, used the Maybelline mascara > LOVE, and then plucked up my old-faithful eyeliner, L’Oréal Superliner Luminizer for Blue Eyes, which, in fairness, seems to luminize. I also ended up using a Wella concoction on The Hair, I think it is so old it is not even on eBay. Still works though!

I am very impressed by the Bourjois foundation, judge as best you can from the pixilley iPhone image. I was underwhelmed by the Dr Hauschka, and ended up giving myself a going over with a new Clarins palette, Odyssey Face Palette, which: more about that later, too.

Now. The thing is, I don’t carry all this around with me in the course of a day. For an evening out at the theatuh, one bring only one’s powder, black pencil to touch up the liner on the upper inner eyelid, the brow pencil and, of course, the lipstick/gloss. One means, come on! Don’t need to lug around the whole face, as it were.

I’m going to declare a Smoky Eye Day, and stay in and practice. There will be pictures to prove it happened…

***

More Jacket Lust. Yes, I Do Have a Problem

/ brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

The problem is that I want all the jackets!

From F+F, the Waxed Four Pocket Jacket.

I had one waxed jacket once, because: horses, and it was so unflattering that I gave it to a charity shop. This is potentially sooo flattering because of the belt.

I wish this image was better, but it is the best I can find at this stage. This is priced around €35ish, maybe €40, which is still fairly amazeballs, considering. Given our Current Climate, economic aspects notwithstanding, a stylish way to repel the rain is going to score high on my own personal sheet.

This is a very equine-inspired olive, which I fancy somethin’ rotten.

Excuse me while I wander off down the local Tesco, I’m sure I’m almost out of eggs.

Fall Face: Time for Foundation Again

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

I’ve gotten into the Irish habit of saying ‘autumn’ but it’s just not alliterative.

I have many foundations in the bath, waiting for testing, but I had to give this one a go: Korres Pomegranate Foundation {€23}, mainly because I had never experienced the brand before.

^That’s code for, never heard of ’em! and it was with some trepidation that I picked it up. Which is ridic, because A} how am I ever going to make new favourites if I don’t try stuff, and B} trying stuff is my job.

Korres are a Greek brand, which immediately sends me into a daydream of sunshine and blindingly white buildings and views of the sea from mountaintops and delicious food. They cover your whole bod, basically, outside and in, with a herbal pharmacy department offering up syrups and pastilles. Also: man stuff! This is a brand I’d like to get to know better.

Anyway, the first foray back into foundation in the fall is fraught with … some thing beginning with F — fear! Having become accustomed to my bronze-y face, the return to pale-and-interesting always feels like it errs on the side of Buster Keaton.

This also has to do with two things that must be put down to operator error:
1} I always dispense far too much product
2} I am still using my fingers even though I have written about how a brush is the best way to apply.

1 was an issue with Korres, because the texture of the foundation is so like face cream — in a good way, but due to the amount I squeezed out, I really had a terrible wastage situation on my hands, literally. Once I got used to the excellent coverage, the second time round went much better.

The pomegranate is there to tighten the pores; I didn’t really notice, but will pay it mind the next time. I didn’t feel like the foundation was wearing me, either, which was great, and it felt moisturising, which is greater.

Downside: I felt like it sank in a little too much over time. I’ve experienced foundations that seem to float over the top of your skin for the length of the day, and this isn’t one of them. {I like the Chanel Perfection Lumiére for that quality, but give lower points for coverage; Clarins Everlasting Foundation wins in both categories, just so you know}

There will be a next time, after I test all the other foundations I’ve got waiting in the bath. A fall face’s work is never done.

***

Korres is available at Harvey Nichols, and online from bathandunwind.com.