Buy This: Clarins Paris and FEED Partnership Gift Set

30/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Don’t want to get all preachy or anything, but here’s an effective way to do something useful.

Clarins Paris and FEED have joined to raise money, via the United Nations World Food Programme, via via this very handy and roomy beauty purse. It’s made of sturdy burlap with a very dependable-looking zip — you cannot be too careful about the quality of a zipper — TWSS, lol.

Seriously: it comes with three very decent-sized Clarins products. I am a fan of the Beauty Flash Balm, and like the looks of the Cleansing Milk with Alpine Herbs. The Hand and Nail Treatment Cream I could take or leave — could this be the hand product that will dispel my ambivalence towards hand products???

Retailing for €24, worth €42, and in stores now, it’s a useful treat in aid of doing a good deed: 10 meals will be provided to children in need, all around the world, thanks to this purchase.

DON’T KILL ME: what a great Christmas gift, right?

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Lads, for real, it’s practically flippin’ September. It’ll be here before ya know it.

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Yippy! Lippy! A/W 2013: An Assortment

28/08/201320/12/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

Let’s just get right to it, shall we?

CLARINS PARIS Joli Rouge in Pink Camellia, €21
This is light and yet brimming with pigment. I likey much, except for the part where I’ve eaten and it has bled all over the place. God, I hate lipliner, but there may be nothing for it…

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YVES SAINT LAURENT Rouge Pur Couture Pur Colour Satiny Radiance in Rouge Neon, €31
The orangey-red doesn’t suit me particularly, but the texture of this is pure luxe.

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GIORGIO ARMANI Lip Maestro Intense Velvet Colour in 505, €28.50
This is amazzzzze. It is much poppier and neon pink in real life, and the compliments! They flooded in! Not so great to be wearing unless you are nil by mouth: I got some on my *nose* because I was drinking champagne and kept moving the glass around. Do people drink from the same spot on a champagne glass? Have I got some class of disorder? Don’t answer that.

This is indeed velvety, and super intense, and I adore it.

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BUFF MAKE UP Lipstick in sex on heels, €18
Like this one, too. The pigment is autumnal café au lait, and it is the sort of lippy I can apply like a gloss: swiftly, without looking, because it’s neutral. Which I like… I feel like this needs more make up surrounding it, to really work well.

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LANCÔME L’Absolu Velours Matte Effect in Velours de Pêche, €25
Loving matte texture as a general vibe, and liking it here espêche. Ahhhhh, see what I did there.

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BENEFIT Hydra-Smooth Lip Color, Full Finish in wing woman, €22
Hmmm. There’s a new lippy in town, via our pals from San Fran, and this is meant to be the full finish version, as opposed to the mediums and sheers on offer. More to come re: this line, but I was not wowed by this coverage.

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DR HAUSCHKA Lipstick Novum in 09, Miraculous Rose €16.50
Waa! Also feeling ‘meh’ about this, too, and I had such love for the oldum Novums, as demonstrated here. This is light, if you want light, and reflective, if you want reflective.

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REVLON Colorburst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, €9.60
Not terribly autumnal, but the texture! of! this! lippy! It is the perfect mid-point between gloss and stick, and the shine is terrific. I am sure that they must have suitably deep colours for the time of year that is almost in it; until I find out more about them, this will do me just fine, thanks.

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Soz, probably should have posted a ‘nostril alert’. Hope no one is scarred for life…

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Hello Lightness, My Old Friend: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+

26/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, my entry point into skincare was via Clinique. As I wrote here, I began to tend to my skin when I was only a nipper, and I was drawn to this brand’s… cleanliness? There was something science-y about it too, and there always seemed to be lashings of water depicted in their advertising — in a good way! Like, before we even began throwing the word ‘hydration’ around, Clinique were all about it. The Three Step! Ah, the Three Step! I had the soap and the Clarifying Toner, and most importantly of all, I had the Dramatically Different Moisturing Lotion.

Did I say dinosaurs? I am sure I refer to the first amoebae that crawled out of the deep into the evolutionary light: I bought this stuff when it came in glass bottles.

I used it religiously, and bought allll the Clinique Bonus Time offers because I wanted the wee tiny bottles of it to bring with me on my travels. The soap lasted forever and I used until ‘they’ said soap was bad for us; the toner is a tonic upon which I still depend; but the yellow stuff fell out of favour once I began trying and testing myriad products on a weekly basis. I had, I confess, forgotten all about it, until the Irish launch party earlier in the summer.

So what is + about Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+, or DDML+ as many of us are calling it? For me, the new element that jumps out is the addition of hyaluronic acid, a very 21st century ingredient that addresses 21st century needs. We weren’t thinking about barrier repair when we were sitting out in the environment, at sidewalk cafés, chowing down on our brontasaurus burgers. Given climate change and ozone depletion and who knows what; creating some class of protective layer between our beloved pelts and the depredations of pollution and UVA ‘n’ Bs ‘n’ Cs is welcome, and necessary.

Hyaluronic acid helps the skin hang onto the moisture imparted by moisturisation. Your very own body produces it, and it is what keeps your skin hydrated and plump, or not, as the case may be, and therefore is the case made for products that contain it. I’m sure there’s a whole acid v alkaline rabbit hole down which to tumble, but I’m a blogger, dammit, not a scientist!

So? It looks the same, it feels the same, and even if the bottle hasn’t been made out of glass for some time now, it is very much like its old self. Which is and isn’t the point. If you’ve been faithful to the product, you’ll be happy enough with any bonus points, but won’t be alarmed by massive changes.

If you have strayed, you’ll return to find it is as silky and soothing as it ever was; as rapidly absorbing without drying; as blessedly free from fragrance as always. My skin also felt tighter, in a good way, not an unpleasantly dry and squinchy way. One pump covers the entire visage, and I suppose there is some algorithm I could devise — 125mls – xmls/pump = X uses… er. I’d say you’ll get great use out of this. Heh.

Is it worth my while to return to DDML+, apart from nostalgia? From the remembrance of going into Macy’s for the first time and making my first adult purchase of skin care, of walking around with the muted green boxes tucked into the shiny little bag, of the feeling of having crossed an important threshold into womanhood? Well, when I put it that way… It’s a lovely feeling of connection to my young self, with, hopefully, the needs of my new self being met.

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125ml with pump: €42*/£29.50/$26

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*Seriously? That’s essentially a tenner more than the sterling price!

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Maybelline Colossal Color Shock Mascara: Unleash Your Inner 80’s Rock Chick

22/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Or, reawaken, as the case may be.

Also, or: maybe New Wave Chick? Either way, this stuff is fun.

That’s two coats worth of Electric Blue. What comprises a coat, in fairness? I go over and over the lashes, and then let them set, and consider that a coat. This may be incorrect.

…

Well, The Internet says, essentially, one swipe of the brush is a coat. I suspected as much — not sure I agree. I’m sticking to my personal definition, thanks, and even if by The Internet standards, the above lash look resulted from, like, ten coats, I don’t care. It’s fab, and I wasn’t expecting it to look so well.

I suppose I had low expectations because of my experience with colouredy mascaras during the actual 80s: they either gave no pronounced colour at all, or were of such a low standard that they produced nothing but clumps.

This went on like a proper mascara. The first ‘coat’ was barely discernible, and I felt justified in my prejudice. Then I gave it another go, and was delighted and impressed. Then I went completely cray — because at this time my Inner 80s Rock/New Wave Chick was fully revived – and put some on my lower lashes. I don’t know what’s stopping me lashing on some crazy eyeliner, except I have to go get my laundry out of the dryer and might meet someone on the stair.

I think there is a purple one*, which I think would be better for blue eyes. If you have brown eyes, I bet this will look amazzzzzzing. Brown-eyed girls, go get it and see, and send me pictures!

Off to listen to The Go-Gos!

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€10.75/£5.99/$7.79**

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*Yes, there is a purple, but we can’t have it here. Were we bad and we didn’t even know it??

**Price point alert! Not good!

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I Used It All Up: BLISS Triple Oxygen Instant Energising Eye Gel

21/08/201303/11/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

I have only really gotten into eye care in the last year or so. Take my advice: start now. I don’t care if you are like, two years old, you should have started when you were one. I have found that when a product targeted to this area works, it really works, and you can see the improvement. I feel like I am not only playing catch up, but struggling with a little bit of damage control — where did those creases come from? {Laughing, so that’s actually a good thing.}

Am I bothered? Eh. Enough, clearly, to be feeling like I am scrambling to rehydrate that area. But again, see: laughing. It’s not like I’m going to stop doing that, so targeting the auld peepers has started coming top of the list.

Better late than never, and you can’t do better that bliss. I had the extraordinary good fortune to have received a Triple Oxygen Facial in an actual bliss spa in NYC — oh, so many, many years ago, but it was was so amazingly amazing that it makes me sigh, thinking back. This is a tiny little bit of that, well, bliss, in a pump-thingie.

It’s got caffeine, which is will wake you up in the a.m., and depuff your eyes; it’s a gel, which absorbs quickly; it’s got Vitamin C, which brightens the eye area, and stimlulates collagen; it’s also got these Soft-Focus Powders? Which I didn’t even know existed, but are there to blur fines lines, and they brighten the area, too. Lotsa brightness! Okay! All I know is that I felt the area tighten to just the correct degree, and felt it immediately, and so it encouraged me to keep using it.

Spendy, but highly recommended, and deeply missed.

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€58.50/£42/$50

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Beautyfull Brightness: Thomas Sabo Glam & Soul

19/08/201319/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Two words: Rose. Gold. Or four: rose gold and silver.

Seven? Rose gold and silver, by Thomas Sabo.

One word: gorgeous.

“Heart Locket” from the Sterling Silver Collection; inside is a small heart made of 925 Sterling silver. €279

Bracelet: 925 Sterling silver with freshwater pearls, €98; this heart locket is 925 silver with a rose gold heart inside, €339.

Feather ear cuffs (from left): 925 Sterling silver and 18K rosé gold plated with white zirconia, €198; 925 Sterling silver with white zirconia, €128

Man’s watch: Rose gold-coloured stainless steel, with rose gold-coloured mesh bracelet, €279

There is so much more; this is my personal wishlist. If you go here, you can browse the full collection.

Also:

I love my Thomas Sabo charm bracelet, as you may remember from here and here, and I liked the first iteration of Charm Rose Eau de Parfum well enough, but I *love* Charm Rose Intense {€49.90.} My EDP tastes tend to run to the non-flowery end of the spectrum — your chypres, your musks, your vetivery-vibe — so this really appeals to me: whilst the first hit is pretty flowery, the base notes are amber, vanilla, patchouli and rosewood, and this dries down deep. It is tailor-made for autumn, in case you were looking for an A/W13 scent.

I have fewer mixed feelings about autumn this year. We did have a mainly proper summer — I wore all the clothes I hadn’t had the chance to wear over the last four years — and plus, my birrrrrthday is at the end of September {see above!} So: basically okay with the idea of autumn. At least I will smell intensely interesting as we transition into the new season.

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http://www.thomassabo.com

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How Super is GlamGlow Supermud™ Clearing Treatment?

12/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Oh, packaging: it must be of a high enough standard, espesh when mucho spondoolicks are involved. But when is too much, well, too much? Coming from a package-design hussy such as myself, you know this is a serious question.

Case in point: GlamGlow Supermud™ Clearing Treatment.

Hello, yourself.

Okay, losing the will to live, right about here.

I mean, okay, it is so gorgeously designed! It really is, to the extremely super-highest of high standards {It’s even got me talking like it, if you know what I mean}, but I had started feeling a little overwhelmed. You don’t even want to know how much information is on that removable bit of bumf. {I end up telling you.}

At last, the stuff itself! I was immediately assailed – in a good way — by the scent, a deliciously licorishy fragrance, and dammit if I didn’t go and consult the ‘Hello Sexy’ double-folding insert for information. Yup: there’s licorice root implicated, as well as peppermint leaf, aloe vera, ivy, cucumber, and chamomile, as well as some Science-y stuff called Acnecidic-6™ which, I think, is six acids blended together to basically fix everything: improve texture, de-pigmentise, unclog pores, stimulate collagen, minimise fine lines and wrinkles, and fight breakouts, among many, many other things.

Supermud, indeed.

It’s not only full of super things, it goes on super-smoothly, and dries super fast, without drying. Which is some trick to pull off, in fairness. I think the licorice went to my head because I got a bit goofy with the photos, but with excellent result.

Muddy to shiny! Perhaps not the most opaque of applications, but it didn’t feel like I’d missed any spots. That’s about three scoops worth of mud on my face, using two fingers, to be semi-precise.

One is instructed to leave this on for any number of minutes, from 5 to 20. I went for the full complement, and while I can sort of see the point of using this as an express mask — actually, I kind of can’t. It felt so good drying, I would hate to rush it. It removed — wait for it — super easily, too. One week on from that treatment, and I feel like my skin is still in good nick.

I am all about the minimisation of pores at the moment, and am amping up my testing of several products that promise to shrink ’em. I am thinking that this is the regular ladies way of keeping the skin youthy, as opposed to the A-list celeb Botoxing, lasering, peeling way. So here’s a little bit of that Hollywood vibe in a jar. Again, spendy, but really worth it.

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€49.99/£44.99/$69

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Thanks for Making My Life Easier: Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm

08/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

And yet, more difficult at the same time, given this, for example. Now I gotta decide what are the circs under which to utilise this little beauty.

This is Blush Orchid, one of four new additions to Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm range. Best of both worlds, as far I can tell: a little bit of tint, a whole lot of balm. I like the clever tube in which it comes — I wonder if this is less packaging, or more? It’s certainly superior to the sort in which a tube is encased in plastic and glued to cardboard. Does anyone read all this stuff, though?

There’s even more text on the pink part of the barrel.

Whatevs! Really love it: it is emollient without being slippery, and the tint is just exactly right.

I forgot I had it on, and even though one of the pleasures in life, as far as I am concerned, is the ritual re-application of lip balm, I didn’t obsessively top this up… which probably means that my obsessive topping up derives from necessity, which means I do the thing I love to do because the product I adore is inferior?

Oh, dear, I feel an existential crisis coming on!

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Petunia, Sweet Violet, and Caramel Daisy join Blush Orchid as 2013’s new hues.

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€7.95; available from The Health Store, Nourish, Avoca and selected independent health stores and pharmacies nationwide.

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B&B! Q&A: Debbie Wild, Jo Malone London

06/08/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

Debbie Wild is Lifestyle Director for Jo Malone London. Now, if I had to choose any lifestyle that I would like to fully embrace, it would be that of the Jo Malone brand. The range of scents have grown over the years, and with the addition of scented sachets and clothes hangers, as well as an expansion of the range of candles, it is a distinct, if spendy, possibility.

Me, I find it money well spent, as fragrance in general, and perfume in particular, is a big part of my lifestyle already. I asked Debbie to talk about the brand’s trademark Fragrance Combining ethos, some hints about how to set the perfect Jo Malone stage in your home, and the new ‘flavour’ that’s launching this year.

What’s your own personal fragrance preference, Debbie?
As far back as I can remember, I have always preferred more masculine and spicy scents. For me, the most special scent from Jo Malone London is the clean freshness of Amber & Lavender as it reminds me of home. Topped with the warm notes of Nutmeg & Ginger, it is the perfect combination to wear every day.

Can you tell us a bit about Fragrance Combining™?
The idea of Fragrance Combining™ was introduced by Jo Malone London and has become renowned within the world of modern fragrance. It was originally born from the idea that your favourite fragrance can be tailored to embrace a mood or occasion, or as a simple expression of your individuality, by layering with another scent.

Can you give us an example of how Fragrance Combining™ might work?
We find interesting ways to layer scents playing with textures and ingredients, across our cologne, body and bath ranges. First, you could shower with a Body & Hand Wash from our fruity family, followed by lathering on a warm and spicy Body Crème. The moisturizing combination of products and scents layered on your skin creates a scented base for your favourite fragrance.

Each fragrance has been designed to be worn alone or combined with other fragrances and we use only the finest and purist ingredients to ensure that any two fragrances can be combined to dependent on your own individual preference. The choice is completely yours.

What is an example of the unexpected ways in which one can layer — as in, what two fragrances might seem to the customer to be an odd couple, but once you put them together, it’s total Wow?
My latest discovery is Peony & Blush Suede topped with hints of Saffron from the Cologne Intense collection. It may seem an unlikely pairing but the result is superb: deep and voluptuous, a mingling of an opulent floral with a vivid spice. The more unusual the better!

As ever, when I get the chance to talk to fragrance experts, I mention my interest in the psychology of scent, and in its potentially emotional impact. How do perfumers take this into consideration?
You will find some scents are personal to you, that they will evoke memories and trigger emotional responses. The way you choose to wear your fragrance contributes to any first lasting memory and impression any you wish to create.

Christine Nagel, Master Perfumer for Jo Malone, remembers growing up in a house where her mother used an Italian powder called Borotalco on herself and her brother, creating a childhood memory with a lasting olfactive impression.

Amongst Christine’s creations for the brand is the new Peony & Blush Suede, which she believes captures the connection between the craft of fragrance and couture fashion. The scent evokes charm of the English ballroom in the mid-20th century. The heady glamour of the Cecil Beaton era. Women elegant in couture, with peonies brought in from the great country estates. It is a fragrance that embraces both the floral notes and atmospheric texture of this time in history.

As someone who loves Lime Basil & Mandarin and Pomegranate Noir, what would you recommend as complementary scents to bring throughout my environment?
Fragrance translates into our lifestyle in every way. A beautifully scented home not only makes you feel good, but will also influence how your guests feel when they enter your home. A Pomegranate Noir Scent Surround™ Diffuser will perk-up your entertaining spaces. By lighting a Peony & Blush Suede Home Candle in your entrance hall, the two fragrances — one peppery, the other floral with the contrast of suede — will heighten the mood and play on the senses. Through Scent Surround™ the ambience of your home can be as inviting as the fragrance on your skin.

TW_JoMalone-Peony_SHOT1v9_CMYK300_LG_1MB

My new lifestyle: bedecked and lounging round the mantlepiece.

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The full Peony & Blush Suede collection will be launching Monday 2^nd September 2013 and will include:

>Cologne 30ml: €48/£39
>Cologne 100ml: €96/£78
>Body & Hand Wash 250ml: €42/£32
>Body Crème 175ml: €62/£50
>Home Candle: €50/£39

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Always worth a linkback: my paean to the body crème.

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Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Smudged: Clarins Delectable Self Tanning Mousse

30/07/2013 / brightandbeautyfull / Leave a comment

So many things happening here.

>Delectable? Because it’s a mousse? Is this meant to work inside out? {Noooooooo! Do not eat this, Credulous Reader!}
>Mousse? I am used to my non-edible mousse coming out of an aerosol can, or a pump thing.
>It’s white. A white cream. That smells very self-tanny.

It was not love at first sight.

I very haphazardly, with disdain, rubbed this all over my belly. I didn’t want this showing, because due to the smell, I reckoned this would be majorly orange, and not fit for human sight.

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

In these days of instantaneous tan, we may have forgotten the virtues of colour that comes up in its own good time. Clarins have got a pretty good thing going on in this wee jar, and I admit I treated it with disrespect. Mea culpa: the warmth of its toasty brownness was perfect, and the streaks that resulted from my derisive application were all my own fault. My belly was brown for the guts {ha haaaaa} of five days.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

Seriously, though, the scent needs work, and a tiny bit of hue in the cream — the wonderfully textured cream, it has to be said — wouldn’ go amiss, particularly for those among us who routinely go amiss with their autobronzant, even when giving it all due respect {Me.}

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Clarins Delectable Self Tanning Mousse, 125mls, €35

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Bright & Beautyfull!

Beauty | Fashion | Lifestyle

Author: brightandbeautyfull

Buy This: Clarins Paris and FEED Partnership Gift Set

Yippy! Lippy! A/W 2013: An Assortment

Hello Lightness, My Old Friend: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+

Maybelline Colossal Color Shock Mascara: Unleash Your Inner 80’s Rock Chick

I Used It All Up: BLISS Triple Oxygen Instant Energising Eye Gel

Beautyfull Brightness: Thomas Sabo Glam & Soul

How Super is GlamGlow Supermud™ Clearing Treatment?

Thanks for Making My Life Easier: Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm

B&B! Q&A: Debbie Wild, Jo Malone London

Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Smudged: Clarins Delectable Self Tanning Mousse

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