FACE

Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best Headline Meets Best Relaunch?

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I think so.

DDML+ livin large

As seen in The Loop, T2, Dublin Airport

Is this the best display of a product ever? Oh, yeah.

The Internets were quite vocal about the relaunch of the beloved Dramatically Different Mositurising Lotion with the new +, with many complaining about the change in texture.

Me, I had grown up using this, and in my new life as a beauty journo, I had so many other things to try that this fell by the wayside.

I personally found that this felt richer than it had, and therefore believed that the primary innovation, that of strengthening the skin’s own moisture barrier, seems entirely plausible.

All I know is, it feels terrific to me, and I’m happy that the auld big yellow bottle is back in my skincare line up.

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best Haiku Review of the Year

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Art imitates life: the poem is only going to be as good as the product. Neal’s Yard Organic Beauty Sleep was one of the year’s best new launches, and it inspired me to flights of fancy.

I have had hit-or-miss experiences with the brand, but this is a hit that goes through the roof. The original post is here; I look forward to the day that I can link to the glorious scent. Surely that is on track somewhere in software development land? Too weird?

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Nicest Surprise in the Post

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I’d never come across SkinCeuticals before, and when their Mineral Radiance UV Defense came over the transom — which is an outdated phrase that I will always love — I was very pleasantly surprised.

I tried it straightaway to make a Snap! Judgement, and really liked that it didn’t look like anything was on my face:
SKINCEUTICALS on the gobWhich is sometimes the look I lIke to go for. You know, the natural one? With this, you get all the coverage, and not only the type that minimises pigmentation: this is stuffed with all those UV filters we need to be mindful of, and yet acts like a light foundation. Perfection!

See here for the full report. It’s an imminent candidate for IUIAU!

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Best IUIAU

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But worst acronym ever.

Not only the best I Used It All Up, but also the first! I still think of this powder, STILA Set & Illuminate Baked Powder Trio, with great fondness. Read all about how good it is here, complete with the very picture of desperation.

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Set & Illuminate Baked Powder Trio: €31.60/£24/$34

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No Way This Is Enough: Product In America

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I just came across this list, which I made in an iNote, which really ought to be on my frickin’ iPhone, but that app routinely decides, off its own bat, to migrate information to a folder in my email account, which I did not even set up? Evidence that The Machines are slowly but surely starting to think for themselves.

This is a list of things that I left at my mum’s, in an effort to pack less the next time I visited:
>Hairbrush
>Some cotton pads (CVS)
>Cleanance lotion
>Lush dry shampoo
>Cocoa butter gel
>Smashbox photo finish primer
>Kerastase Sensidote Dermo Calm
>Vichy foundation
>Cien deodorant
>Avène Eluage cream and eye cream
>Clinique sparkle skin (small)
>Awapuhi hair gel
>Hair elastics
>Black eyeliner
>Benefit Girl meets pearl (not much)
>Benefit Erase paste
>Candle
>Gel tabs
>Eye pencil sharpener

What is this even? I can’t — really? Gel tabs… of what, exactly? Unicorn tears? Did I leave an entire bottle of Cleanance lotion behind? Could I be any less specific re: Kerastase Sensidote Dermo Calm? Whew: don’t have to pack an eyepencil sharpener!

I had thought to take photos but they seem to have disappeared as well.

Understand that I am at that stage in the packing process in which the bag feels heavy, so I take out a pair of tights and lace top. Because that’s the tipping point right there. I hatttttte this part. And I am sure that the bag is too heavy to pass, but it always passes, and if worse comes to worse, then I’ll take the long coat out of the bag, which in fairness I should probably be wearing but I hate rattling around the airport in excessive outerwear…

Gah.

I’ll post a photos of all of the above, and all of the stuff I am bringing in spite of all of the above, and we’ll all have a good laugh/sigh.

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Tried & Tested @ The Herald: Facial Exfoliants

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I can’t ever get enough of a good scrub — let’s go back in time and see what I thought about six of them, shall we?

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One of the entrants is Neostrata, which is very close to my hometown, as shared here!

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Crikey, looka dem tagz…

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I Used It All Up: Lush Lip Service

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The reformulated versions of Lush‘s lip balms came out in March. I started using this, before bed, every night, since… let’s say 1 April.

LUSH LIP SERVICE

Eight months? That’s pretty good! If you only apply it once*, though. Still: even if you used it twice a day, four months out of this wee 8g, 100% recyclable tin — that’s pretty impressive.

I’m also impressed by the brand’s constant revisitation of formulae, as I’ve said before. The last version I used of this was really hard to coax out of the tin — the scraping required! The initial scratchy moments of application until the balm warmed! Not nice. This is much softer, more aerated, and it stayed completely fresh over those eight months, too.

Next up: Honey Trap…

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€7.20/£5.75/$7.25

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*Who applies lip balm only once a day?!?!

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Kardashian Beauty Lip Lacquer in Shocking Pink is Shocking Because:

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photo-7{Post updated with re-branded, ligitised name}

A} It’s not this.
B} I always feel morto liking a celebrity brand of anything.
C} I don’t know where to buy it, how much it costs, or anything and I don’t care and am posting anyway.*
D} I had to google the colour, because even with my specs, I couldn’t read any of the information on the bottom of the tube. I suspect that means I am probs too old to be sporting this. {Please feel free to dispute this in the comments.}
E} It is light and yet the pigment is so matte and so not drying.
F} It’s pointy! Thin and pointy, and it dials up, and you don’t even need a lip pencil, which I would usually recommend with something as matte as this.
G} I like allll the colours, and would spend my own actual money on Babydoll Pink and Love Hangover.

Like I said: shocking!

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Anybody know where to get this stuff? Boots isn’t giving me any joy…

* Thanks, internet! {In the form of Aoife} Available on http://www.sammccauley.com and cloud10 beauty, €13.99. IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO NOT KNOW SOMETHING.

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Tried & Tested @The Herald: Cleansing Balms

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My new favourite thing! As I say here, I have always hated, if not completely loathed, the fuss of using a cleanser. These go on your face and stay there, working away as you massage them round, without making a splattery disaster of the sink, or dripping down to your elbows.

Clean up without making a worse mess! That’s my new motto.

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And Another Thing! Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

/ brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

OBSESSED with this lipstick.
COLOURBURST again

In addition to its other virtues, it smells really nice, too! Like: delicious.

And as a matter of interest, I had two or three other samples of these — no, five, because I also got these super-odd coloured ones: a blue, and a purple that was not a violet, more like a zombie colour. And I didn’t like any of them nearly as much as this, which is, of course, Strawberry Shortcake.

So there.

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€11.20/£7.99/$4.79; also, any time is good time to complain about price points and dodgey conversions!

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Hey! Do you think my jaw looks rather firmer than it has, in the recent past? Wait until I tell you all about the Radio Frequency treatment at Aqua Beauty/Medispa!

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