I am really crap as regards SPF. Like, it’s probably in most of the stuff I use, but… if it’s not, it doesn’t even occur to me to supplement it.
Yesterday, on my way to horseriding, I met a lovey crowd of women from Image Skincare* who said, with confidence, that I must be swimming in SPF, because I am so often out of doors.
Uh, no, not really. Oops. Continue reading
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Once upon a time,
Shine was banished from the face.
Now, we call it glow.
‘You look about 11,’ remarked my friend and colleague last week, or even the week before — who knows, time is over. I won’t mention her name or even her initials, because she would maybe kill me, and that would be a pity because I now have the capacity to look youthful and dewy whenever I wish.
I remember fighting shine to the death, in my teenage years. The pressed powder compact was never far from my grasp, but it was really all about the foundation. The thicker the better, and wow, it is amazing that my pores didn’t just clog up and die.
Now, however, with age and wisdom, a nice light-reflecting face is the goal. Because then, paradoxically, you look youthful and dewy.
I got the vibe that Chanel’s Perfection Lumiére was pretty special from the first moment of application: light and yes, flawlessy fluid just as it says on the tin, but also excellent coverage, which I find to be essential when a product is a little more expensive than one might be used to. A pump and a bit expertly covered my roundy face, so those among us with less acreage and more angles will probs get even better mileage than I do.
The glow, it was blinding! Okay, not really, but obviously remark-able, as evidenced by the feedback from my friend, who is also a noted beauty expert. I remember that day {whenever it was} was a long one, but by the time I got home, well into the night, I looked as fresh-faced as I had when I’d first made up that morning. In fairness, I also use an illuminating face powder, but girls, if the base layer is questionable, forget about piling anything on it.
I have just realised that I wrote about using this here, so there’s the proof on my pudding-gob. Hey, even for a not-so-great iPhone self-portrait, I think that the quality of this foundation shines through. Or glows on. Whatever! It is fabulous.
I am still sort of tip-toeing around my face, if you know what I mean. I have to google it up, but I haven’t given myself a mask in three weeks, and am only lightly exfoliating. This is of course due to The Botox.
I was daydreaming about giving myself a good scrub, and I came across this review of Neutrogena’s Wave Duo, which I had liked very much at the time. I remember I wasn’t so chuffed with the way in which the cleansing pads — which affix to the end of the Wave — were packaged: in a plastic-y wrap that didn’t close up tight. The images don’t appear to evidence a change in that approach.
I don’t think I feel secure enough in my skin {literally and figuratively} to use, but I highly recommend it as a handy and effective gadget for your continued self-care. Although, now that i think about it, I have a feeling that this didn’t make it across in the move… nope, I’m sure it didn’t, so I won’t trouble St Anthony. Ah, well. This is cheap as chips at €9.99, so I may just have to go out and get myself another one — when I finally feel like the, er, foundations have totally settled…
I THINK IT MAY BE… Ever since I had my make up done by that lovely artist in Brown Thomas, lining my upper inner eyelid has been an inviolate part of my beauty routine. I had been happy enough with the pencil I’d ended up buying, but quickly switched to an Origins dial-up one. No, not like an old modem: the type of liner that doesn’t require sharpening because the product is encased in plastic.
Then Origins stopped selling their make up line in Ireland, and I began casting around, desperately, for a replacement. I eventually settled on my famous Karaja’s Super Longwear Semi-Permanent Soft Eyeliner, which has been the perfect replacement…
But I began to feel like I needed to replace the replacement, and only due to technical difficulties, which have resulted in using the pencil unerringly for a long time. It has gotten shorter. Because it is shorter, my hand is closer to my eye, and my eye thinks I am about to poke it out, because the fingers are so close. As a result, I blink like a crazy-blinking person, and I can’t get a good line on my inner eyelid.
Quel horreur! I’d been down this road before, and felt like I’d tried everything! And then I decided to give the Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense in Intense Black a go. I had tried a Clinique pencil in the past — the wooden kind you have to sharpen — and wasn’t that keen. This one though? It is gooood. It’s the dial-up sort, and the line is always thin and precise. It has a bit of the ish that the regular pencil had, in that the product is so soft, it tends to smear during the course of the day/night. If you mind it, you can nip in the bud before you start looking like a panda. Otherwise, my eyes no longer fear the poking, and that softness does, of course, have its plus side: this goes on smooth as silk.
I’ve also got one in Intense Plum. I think that may be a great way to shake up the look.
€17.50/£14/$15
This is not the world’s best comparative photo, mainly because I took the ‘after’ with my computer, and am making the inevitable scrutiny-face at myself. And this was before the Botox kicked in. And — ah, feck it. Look: Continue reading
Just make up-wise; skin care is a whole ‘nother post.
>POREfessional by Benefit. It is the biz. I think it is made of feathers and velvet, it’s so soft.
>That Perfection Lumiere foundation from Chanel {more on that later}
>Umm… I knew I should have done this as I was doing it, if you know what I mean, because I forget what — oh, of course! My last year’s LE of MAC Beauty Powder, in Passionflower.
>More MAC: a few swipes of Penultimate on the brows because the dye is dying, oh nooooo. The pen is dying as well! Ach!
>The Blush Horizon de Chanel, and more on that anon as well.
>That Karaja black eyeliner that I adore. It is harder to use now it’s getting shorter, just because my eye thinks I am trying to poke it out.
>I’ve been very pleased with the new technology that has made liquid eyeliner easier to apply. Ir maybe practice does make perfect. Anyway, I love L’Oréal’s Super Liner Luminizer for Blue Eyes. It lasted through my very long yesterday, and that applicator is top class.
>Benefit High Brow Glow, which I always look at and go, ‘Eh?’ and then I just stroke some in the arch of my brow and go ‘Oh!’ the pearlescent sparkle really does make a difference.
>Yesterday it was… yet another Benefit product! Mascara: They’re Real! The result is amazeballs, but one must get as much on in the first coat, because it dries hard, and it’s difficult to get another coat on. You know what I mean? It kind of sets in stone? Which is grand — if you get the first coat correct.
>The Clarins Gloss Prodige in Papaya. I think this has magic in it? because it feels light like a gloss but looks like a shiny, shiny lipstick. Me likey.
That took me longer to write than it did to actually do. Ten minutes, tops? Maybe fifteen? That’s just regular-day-face, as shown. I’m going to be playing with false eyelashes over the long bank holiday/Paddy’s day weekend… something tells me that’s going to screw up the curve…
Unpacking continues, apparently. I went to put these on:
I hadn’t worn these in a long time, had a horseriding injury, couldn’t get around but for FitFlop technology, and lately, as long as I don’t have to trek for miles, I can wear some of my lovely, lovely footwear again. These are Lucky brand, and they are just covered in buckles, and I love them.
I stuck in my foot, and something was in the boot, and I found this:
Um. Okay. I mean, I am sure that in the whirlwind crazy that was me, mid-move, I probably stuffed a bunch of rando things into other things, like boots. That’s the way I pack to travel, that’s fairly common, right?
Except I didn’t even know that I had a tube of Kiehl’s Lip Balm SPF 15 in Hue No. 30G—
Oh! My sister-in-law Melanie gifted all the ladies with gorgeous Kiehl’s boxes at Christmas. So this not only made its way across the ocean, but also across the bay. Tenacious balm! I’m glad I found it: it’s light, it’s got a little bit of tint, too. I am wearing some now and my lips are feeling a little bit tingly — I just checked the tube, it doesn’t say anything about tingling. Eh, sure, I certainly don’t mind a bit on a tingle on the mouth every now and then.
I wonder what I’ll find in my other shoes! This is exactly like if I was a Dutch child and it was St Nicholas’ Day!
Kiehl’s Lip Balm SPF 15 in Hue No. 30G €14/£12.50/$9.50
Also, have I not catalogued my lip balm/treatment addiction? Well, just wait.
… and I am so behind on my spring make up. Here’s a slice of Papaya from the Clarin’s Gloss Prodige line (€17/£15.50/$20), which does 
not look papaya-esque in any of the photos, nor in the ones I tried to take with my ubiquitous iPhone, but on the applicator! Eeeeeee, it is corally, which I have to say I avoid like the plague. Except! It looks well on the lips. It’s magic, maybe? I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’m going to use this one right up.
Got Chanel! Again, so late to the spring make up party, so I only {only! Oink, oink} got the Perfection Lumiere Longwear Flawless Fluid Makeup (€44/£36/$55) and the Blush Horizon de Chanel (€55/£46/$58), the latter being a limited edition. I haven’t used either officially yet, meaning: they haven’t walked out the front door after having been applied to my face, but I did swipe a bit of the PL on my hand and ohh, it looked like it would luminate perfectly, just as it says on the tin. As for the blush, it is so pretty I want to just prop it open in front of me all day; I tried a bit of that on the hand as well, using the supplied brush… well, I’ll give it a go with my trusty kabuki, and we’ll see if I have a better outcome. {So prettttttty…} 
I’ve also had Avon’s Smoke and Mirrors Limited Edition knocking around for a while, and I must say, I have been loving the lippys (€9/£7/$7). I’ve just lashed on some Purple Hazed: it’s lightweight but has excellent pigment, so it shows up without feeling heavy. Perfect for me, who can’t be bothered with high maintenance lipstick anymore. I have to say, though, that I am going to be springing into summer with Nude and Infused, which is going to go brrrrilliantly with my tan. My self tan, that is. Unless we get a miracle of sunshine out this way. It could happen…
Well, I can’t get my head round this ‘holiday’ — not that mums don’t deserve one, inverted commas or not! — but where I come from, Mother’s Day is in May or something, and my mum isn’t here {in Ireland, I mean, she’s still here here.} Ambivalence reigns.
Although I have lovely friends, both here and in Amurraka, that are mums!
I’ll quit while I’m ahead.
Look at the wee collage I made in Photoshop! I had to stop tweaking because I was spending way too much time on it. It’s okay. Oh, shoot, there’s just one thing I could —
Enough! Clockwise, from left:
I love the look of this wee thing, and if your mum is in any way gadgety — that sounds wrong… — the Logitech Mini Boom Box (€79.99; available from Harvey Norman) is a useful and fun addition to her handbag. It’s not only a mobile speaker that pairs via Bluetooth with whatever other gadgety thing she’s got, but it is also a speakerphone, so when she wants to tell a story to a bunch of people, and you’re not there, she can put you on speaker. You know what I’m talking about.
Then there’s the VOYA Me Time Anti-ageing Moisturiser (€57). Now, do you feel the hair on the back of your neck rising at the notion of handing mum anti-ageing anything? Don’t be afraid! You just say that you heard this product is great (it is: it’s guaranteed Irish and made from sustainably harvested seaweed right off our own shores) and that it’s never too early to start fending off the signs of ageing. This implies that there’s no wrinkles a’tall, yeah? Did I do that right?
Okay, I don’t know, but I think if I handed my mother a box of Viviscal Maximum Strength Hair Nourishment (€49.95 for 60 tablets), she’d squint down at the box, raise her eyebrows just so, and say, ‘Oh! Okay.’ I am laugh-quivering at myself right this second. Seriously, though? Nothing breaks my heart like female pattern-baldness, and I’m kinda giving these consideration myself. I don’t know how to present this, but if your mum has gorgeous hair, why shouldn’t she be able to keep it? Two tablets a day help to nourish the follicles from the inside out, and there’s also shampoo and conditioner to back it up. Easy peasy.
The chicken-hearted among us, who nevertheless have exquisite taste, may like to grab up one of these Grace Handbags (€35) from beautycouture… sorry, got lost surfing all those adorable bags, and made a side trip into the clutches. Beautycouture.ie is another Irish business that deserves your support, and frankly, at those prices, I think mum-and-daughter matching malas is a terrific idea.
Finally, a gift box is a glorious thing, and Burt’s Bees Head to Toe Kit (€16.95) is completely brilliant. You’ve got mum covered from, uh, head to toe, from Mr Bee’s excellent Coconut Foot Cream, through the Fabulously Fresh Peppermint & Rosemary Body Wash, the Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion, the Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream, to the Hand Salve and Beeswax Lip Balm. Every extremity accounted for!
Bright & Beautyfull! 