Author: brightandbeautyfull

The Curly Hair Nightmare: Will Sleep-In Rollers Give Me Sweet Dreams?

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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!

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*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

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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!

***

Special offer Radiance Facial: €45; good until 14 July.

Virginie Claire is located at 255 Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6;  01 4978833

Tanning Twenty Twelve: Karora Self Tan Mist

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I hate the self tan sprays, as I have mentioned before, mainly because they are not very precise. It’s like when you clean the mirror in the bath — which you will have to do if you use a spray tan! — and you squirt the Windex and it’s like SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT. It’s okay when it’s Windex and it’s a mirror; it’s not so okay when it’s yer bod and a container of stainy stuff that will get all over the place.

So I end up SPLAT SPLAT SPLATing the stuff directly onto the mitt, and so what’s the point, then? You’re not getting the ‘salon experience’ at home, are you? Feh.

So with my usual open mind, I wielded Irish brand Karora Self Tan Mist (€14.99) and pointed it at my mitt. And then something truly amazing happened! It was all sssssssssssssssssssssssh: a truly gentle and absolutely misty expulsion of product.

Huh! I pointed the canister at my arm and depressed the button. There it was again! Ssssssssssssssssssssssh, resulting in a perfect mist of self tan adhering to my skin.

I used the mitt anyway, to distribute it evenly — I hadn’t lost my mind entirely — and have to say that the spray thing is really convenient and gentle and thorough. Who knew!

In the usual run of my criteria, this is yet another self tan that doesn’t smell bad. This also dries instantly, which is probably the most important thing to me.

However: it shows colour only to a small degree on contact, so you’ll have to plan ahead with this one. I put some on going out, and it didn’t really make an impact until the next day. Normally, I wouldn’t be okay with this either {so impatient!} but because this dries so fast, I’d put this this on and then get between the sheets without thinking twice.

Finally, I am guessing that is terrific value, because the sssssssssssssssssssssh doesn’t waste product, and with the help of the mitt, it distributes really well. Excellent all round, and it should last for the best part of the ‘summer’.

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http://www.karoracosmetics.com

Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Update: A Bit of Perspective

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I am in the middle of the third week of Dr Lewinn’s Renunail Nail Strengthener application. This is the fifth week of the whole process. I was only admiring my nails, my historically manky nails, earlier yesterday, thinking about how I was going to post another picture of their new and improved-ness.

They are not only whiter, and less ridge-y, but also stronger. I have been growing them without thinking twice. Until last night, when I removed my left riding glove and realised that my ring fingernail felt funny.

It had split all the way down the center.

Argh! Okay, so, in all the admiration yesterday, I had forgotten to apply the strengthener. Was that what happened? Or had I tempted the fates by letting the nail grow and grow? The riding gloves don’t help matters in any respect, so I am guessing that the confluence of elements — gloves tugging on too-long nail, too-long nail that had not been coated with supernatural strength — resulted in the split.

Dammit. Ah, well, time to file the nails down, and to keep strengthening.

Look, they are not even that long! I bet it is an aging thing…

Well, I am learning the limitations of the product as it conjuncts with the limitations of my own raw material. Still! The improvement is amazeballs.

Notes to Self

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> Undo all the plastic barriers and peel off all the foil-y bits on products before getting in the shower!
This seems like common sense — well, yeah, okay, it is common sense, and I seem to be sadly lacking in it. I have a bunch of stuff on the go at the moment, and I remember, too late, that manufacturers are protecting us from tampered-with stuff. Fumbling with trying to strip off the strip-y thing is annoying with wet hands; resorting to using my teeth more often that not results in said stuff  in my mouth. Yuck, on several levels.

>Testing out face masks requires lead time.
Ack! I always forget to do masks — and I love masks! I am not so good at sitting around doing nothing, though. Even reading the internet is problematic because of the reading glasses, and glasses on a masky face is also ‘yuck’.

>In the spirit of the first item, undo all the tops of things in tubs.
Because the unscrewing business is also fiddly with wet hands {TWSS} and also an amounto f water always gets in the tub, and I’m sure that the long-term effects of water-in-tubs-of-product is not good.

I had a couple more, and I can’t remember them… which bodes ill for this list.

HD Brows: Must to Maintain

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My eyebrows were in great shape, I thought. Sure, I had to jazz ’em up somewhat extra, with the auld eyebrow palette, but they looked fine, yeah?

No.

Before and after, obvs. Yes, the use-of-dye aspect of the HD Brows process helps loads, even if I do feel like Groucho Marx for the first two days, but the whole shaping technique, using waxing and threading and measuring, is simply non-pareil.

Between the tanning and the HD Brows, I need almost zero make up, which lowers the maintenance in other areas.

Look, I let them go so long that I resorted to the tweezers myself. I am so bad at tweezing, even when I’m only after yanking the really obvious wigglers. Plus, I feel the pain, and can only manage like two hairs and hour.

So much simpler to go to the professionals…

More info here at http://www.carterbeauty.ie; see here for the first go.

THIS: Rhinestone Skull Clutch Bag from beautycouture.ie

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I love skulls.

Sparkly skulls? They just knock the love right out of the park. Oops, a baseball-y phrase. Or: kicks the love into touch. For all you Anitpodean/European rugby types.

This is the Rhinestone Skull Clutch Bag (€30) available at beautycouture.ie. It is 12 inches wide and 6.25 inches high, which is basically perfect. There’s a strap to relieve it of its clutchiness, should you so desire.

Look at his expression! It’s kind of piratical, right? Like he’s saying ‘Arrrrrr!’

I love him. *Sigh*

Tanning Twenty Twelve: L’Oréal Paris Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Golden Mousse

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Right, so. It is 6.30 in the morning. It is… to say it is pissing down rain is to insult piss, to be honest. It is filthy, foul, and soul-destroying out there. Your first thought, before you are even conscious that you are thinking, is Holy crap, I have to get my Christmas shopping done! before you remember that it is July, not November.

You are actually vertical, and preparing to leave the house in an hour. You can’t imagine what in the world you are going to wear, because your phone says it is actually kind of warm out. You look at yourself in the mirror — the lovely suntan you picked up in the South of France is fading, as is the memory of that strange glowing orb that was present in a sky that was this really weird colour, like blue or something?

You think, Feck it, and even though everything you’ve ever read tells you to tan the night before the morning of the deluge, you don’t give a toss. You grab the can of L’Oréal Paris Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Golden Mousse (€22.49) and your trusty mitt, and go to work.

On a day that seemed to start out so wrong, suddenly everything is right. The mousse is light, it doesn’t have that stink, it imbues you with instant warmth and glow, and dries in finger snap. It is perfect.

That is all.

The Scrub of a Lifetime: VOYA Organic Lavender & Seaweed Sugar Glow

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I exfoliate a lot. Like, I am pretty sure that I have exfoliated all the hairs off my arms. Plus, I use the gloves along with the exfoliant, which is cray-zay, I know, and I’m surprised I haven’t scrubbed myself down to the bone.

Exfoliant and me, yeah, nothing new there. But you know what? There is absolutely something to be said for getting a professional treatment.

I very happily found myself once more at Therese R Wellness and Beauty in Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Killiney. I had forgotten my togs — clients of the spa may avail of the leisure centre, which includes jacuzzi and sauna and steam room, oh, my — so I stripped down, bundled up into a beautiful spa robe, headed into one of the well-kitted-out treatment rooms* and lay myself on the plinth.

Okay: did you know that when you exfoliate, it doesn’t have to be like you are keelhauling a ship? It’s no surprise that I’ve scoured all the hair off my arms {if only it would work on my legs!} I lash away with the stuff like I am scraping barnacles. Susie, my massage aesthetician, applied VOYA’s amazing concoction with all the gentleness that one would bring to tending a little baby.

At right is not me, but that is a true representation of the colour and texture of the scrub. A combination of organic ingredients,with the main players being hand harvested seaweed, lavender buds, and cane sugar, there’s a bit of a pong off it at first because, hey, there’s no fake rubbish in this bad girl. Once you get used to it — if you have to, it mightn’t even register for you at all — it’s nothing but gentle application and the feeling that dead skin cells are going on to a better place.

After the scrub is showered off, Susie applied VOYA’s Softly Does It Body Moisturiser, again, in a professionally massaging manner, not in the slapdash way I would do it. I’ve used this moisturiser in the past and wasn’t crazy about it, but my mind has been changed: the combo of the scrub and this was excellent.

This is not a total, float-away-into-the-ether thing: it is relaxing, sure, but it is primarily a very functional treatment, and you come out with astonishingly smooth skin — I made my friends touch my arms the next day, and they were gobsmacked.

Pretty perfect! Although… if there had been a wee facial exfoliation to go along with it? Just something to think about, VOYA…

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The VOYA Organic Lavender & Seaweed Sugar Glow treatment is €55 at Therese R Wellness & Beauty, Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Killiney, Dublin.

*OMG, remember the hydrotherm mattress?!?