FACE

HD Brows: A Reader Writes…

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I read your review on HD brows and I’m sold! Would you recommend I get them done? I heard they dye your skin is that true?

In a word, dear reader: no. Even though I just had mine done on Monday, and feel a veritable expert, I googled they dye your skin with HD Brows and came up with no such thing.

You can’t dye skin — wait, hang on — nope, Google says you can’t do that either, but you can of course dye your hair with Kool Aid.

Listen, I was nervous enough getting the brows dyed, so I totally get the query. Anything that smacks of permanency makes me twitchy {Ooh, ‘scuse me, Dr Freud will see me now.}

Here they are, with make up accompaniment:

Must try a smoky eye, and false eyelashes! This is like having a whole new face!

HD Brows: In Which I Get the Eyebrows of My Dreams

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‘Open your eyes.’

I opened them, to see two intent faces peering into mine. It was like that shot in a hospital TV show, from the POV of the trolley*: the surgeons are huddled over a patient, a patient that they have maybe just zapped back to life, and they are ensuring said patient’s consciousness. I wasn’t in A&E, and the two intent faces belonged to eyebrow artists; despite the lack of cardio machines or whatever, this was something of a crisis situation, and it was about to be resolved. Categorically.

That brow, there, that’s what I brought before Marissa Carter and Katie Fox at Carter Beauty {the other brow, not pictured, is, you know, the same.} That’s a manageable brow for me. I can lay on the brow enhancer, like Benefit’s Browzings, or Clarins’ Pro Palette, and sculpt a decent shape, and take attention away from the stray hairs.

Why not tweeze those strays, you ask? Because I cannot bear the tweezers, as wielded by me. My nose is itching just thinking about it, and my eyes are tearing up. This reaction is why I have been getting my eyebrows tended to, by professionals, since I was 13 years old.

That’s a lot of years between then and now, and I can say with conviction that nothing has ever approached the shaping of my brows with the focus that the HD Brows system brought to the treatment table.

The procedure is delineated in seven steps: assessment of the client’s face shape in order to design a brow to suit; tinting to even out the colour of the hair; waxing; threading; tweezing; trimming; finishing {< which entails soothing lotion and application of colour to cover any pinkness of skin, but this was the least painful eyebrow treatment I’ve ever gotten, and there was barely any reaction.}

During the assessment part, Katie used a thread to get ratios of distances between my nose and the outside of my brows, between my pupil and what would hopefully be the arch I’d always pined for. She attended to the specificities of my face the way I imagine the people who cleaned the Sistine Chapel attended to its restoration, but with less scaffolding.

It’s not as though the guts of the above are not fairly typical to a brow shaping treatment, but in this case, I’ve never experienced such a comprehensive use of all of the elements. By this I mean, it wasn’t like, slap on the wax and rip out the hair, zip-zip. Or the scrinch-scrinch-scrinch of threading, boom, you’re done. I suppose it’s not like that because the seven steps don’t come in rote order — both Marissa and Katie went back and forth between the steps, waxing, tweezing, threading, re-checking the plumb lines, and yes, peering down at me until they were satisfied that they had crafted the perfect brow for me and my face.

Okay, you’ve gotta see this now: Continue reading →

Brightening and Re-Beautyfying, Stage One: HD Brows

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What is it about eyebrow hair that makes it grow so silently? I mean, I’ll look down and go, ‘Oh, I better shave my legs,’ but something about the eyebrows always makes me go, ‘Whoa, I have to get my brows done!!!’ It’s not like I don’t see them every day. It’s weird.

Anyway, my brows are completely whoa, and frankly, they were easy to ignore this past week or so, but no more! I am off to go get the HD Brows treatment at Carter Beauty in Blackrock, and this is what they have to work with:

There are seven steps involved, and I’ll get into those when I write up the after post, but can I just say that there is tinting involved? Much excite.

Celebrity brows in 3…2…

Haiku Review: Ógra 100% Peat Face and Body Mask

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Deep black in the jar,
But not as thick as I wished.
{That’s What She Said; LOL.}

My thoughts are ordering themselves as bullet points:

>Excellent heft to the jar; the majority of Irish brands seem to cheap out on good packaging. Ógra lead the minority in making good choices re: design.

>Was surprised to reveal a liquidy kind of product. I guess I expected something more… muddy.

>I may have used more than someone else would, since I wanted my face to just be covered in peat, no skin showing.

>Eh, achieved that to a degree. Sat down, despite lack of glasses, and finished yesterday’s post, complete with skeereee photo of self with peat mask.

>Whilst proofing said post, the mask began to do its thing: its delicious, tingly thing, that as it dried, got just the right amount of tight — not so much that all the moisture was going to be sucked out of my skin, but just enough to feel like it is an active mask.

>It felt so good, that I wondered if I might keep it on for 2,500 years after all.

>Was strangely captivated by the way it dried: all crackly. Look how weird: one of my eyes totally looks bigger than the other.

I could probably look at my edit timeline to see how long I’ve had this working away, couldn’t be more than ten minutes at this stage — and I should really read the directions, should I remove this now? — and ooooh, baby, the tingles continue. It feels goooooood.

Also to hand, and what really ought to be the perfect follow up, is Ógra’s Nourishing Facial Moisturiser (€30). I took the unique route of  taking a bath to remove the mask — well, not just to remove the mask, I also needed to relax — and so I cannot report as to how much of a mess this may make in your sink*. As a rule, I give myself masks in the a.m. and then shower them off, ‘cos I hate the splash and mess otherwise.

I basically sweat this off. It felt a little grainy when I was washing away the hard-core hangers on, you know, the bits that are by your hairline? Just me? Otherwise, as far as I could feel, it wiped off easily.

The website pointed out that your skin may appear to be pinker than usual, and this down to an ion exchange {? Googled it; too sciencey} which draws the blood up to the surface of the skin. Given that there was a steamy bath involved, I may look dewier than I ought. Also, the lighting isn’t the greatest, but:

I wonder why I did that with my mouth. But: dewy! I let the, er, dew dry and then applied the moisturiser, which is a pleasing coffee ice cream-colour. It smells powdery, which I like, and it feels like the perfect complement to my newly de-peated complexion. I will quibble that it absorbed a smidge too quickly {that’s fancy beauty journo talk} but frankly, I was happy enough to apply another round.

What can I try next?! There’s a body exfoliator, which is a favourite category of mine, but really, I think next time I’ll do the whole bod and see how that works. Fewer pictures though — after all, this is a family blog.

Once again, the online store can be found here.

*I can report that it left some residue in the tub. Eh, no big, because my skin still feels great.

Irish for Youth: Preserve Your Looks with Peat

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If there’s one thing about which I can wax lyrical, it’s the smell of burning peat. Out of all the places I have lived here, I’ve only enjoyed an open fireplace once, but I loved, loved, loved burning peat briquettes, and once, even got actual hand-harvested peat straight from a friend’s bog allotment. Or whatever it was called. There’s a special name for it, and I can’t remember.

What is peat, you ask? {Heathen!} It’s a really, really old by-product of decomposed vegetable matter. Which doesn’t sound very appealing, but trust me, once somebody digs it up — it’s mud, basically, but really complex and rich mud — and dries it out, it fires up like a dream, it smells delicious and homey, and it is one of the most relaxing fires to sit before, musing and dreaming.

Now, a company called Ógra {which is… Irish for youth} have brought out a skincare line that speaks to peat’s other amazing properties, that of preservation and healing.

Founded by Bill Kenny, the peat comes straight from the heart of Ireland in  Co Offaly, and has been incorporated across a range that includes all the usual suspects of cleanser, toner, moisturiser, eye, and body cream. For me, though, I am all about cracking into the face mask: not only because of the opportunity to take a scary picture, but also because being able to sit back and relax and let all the peaty benefits sink into my skin over a period of time — well, how relaxing does that sound? Plus, look! It’s a body mask as well! I think I am going to go run a bath…

Before peat is dried out for use in our hearths, the stuff is bursting with essential oils, fatty acids and lipods, all of which help the skin retain moisture, which in turn makes the skin look bloomin’ youthful.

And of course, we all know about the preservative qualities of peat, don’t we?

I don’t plan on keeping this on that long.

And since I need my glasses to type, I’ll catch you up on my opinion later.

Ógra 100% Peat Face and Body Mask, €30.00 (50mls).

The online store can be found here.

Day Cream v Night Cream: Ah Ha!

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Sometimes the stars align, and synchronicity engages, and you’ve just blogged about something, and then you go to a presentation that very evening, and the expert lady addresses the very issue that you had been pondering!

Or: the issue is a fairly common talking point, so NBD.

Either way, on the evening of the day that I had posted this, I went to the Dylan Hotel for a presentation hosted by Dermalogica, and given by Sally Penford of the International Dermal Institute. Sally is an independent skin professional, so wasn’t there to flog the brand {which hardly needs flogging, in fairness} but to address several common assumptions one makes about skin care and the use of product.

Imagine my surprise when we got to the question regarding whether or not everyone should use a night cream. And the answer is… Continue reading →

Update: Avon ANEW Clinical Resurfacing Expert Smoothing Fluid

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I had two treatments after I began testing Avon‘s professional-style exfoliating, microdermabrasing fluid, so I felt like I couldn’t really tell what was going on with my skin.

Additionally, even though I have the hide of a rhino, I didn’t want to be piling on all manner of potions on, because who knew what was working and what was not?

Nevertheless, I do have a few things to say {shock! horror!}, and they are:

> That stopper, there in the cap? I think it has  mind of its own, which is all to the good. No matter how much product I tried to pump into the cap, it only dispensed like, a drop and a half. Which is really all you need. And the directions say as much. But who uses only what they need? Huh? Who? Not me, because if one drop is good, then six must be amazing! Uh, no. And since this really is pro-style, I don’t think using more of something this active is a good idea.

>How do I know it’s active? It makes my face itch. Not in a bad way! In a Hey! I think this is working! way. In the way your skin responds to treatments. That way. Frankly, this is why I stopped using it during the two weeks of many treatments, because it felt as intense {in a good way!} as the product used in the salons.

Hmm, I thought I had more to say. Guess not! Oh: you can use this day or night, and I’m not sure which is best. Use it on fresh, rejuvenated skin in the morning? Or slough off those dead skin cells in your sleep? Obviously I’ll have to give both a try. As ever, will let you know!

Day Cream v Night Cream: Eh… Hmmm?

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A short time ago, I wondered: what is the point of using a day cream and a night cream? Musings may be found here.

And if you don’t feel like back-tracking, these are the three duos that I’ve been testing for the last while:

>Ziaja Rose Butter Anti-aging Moisturiser and Night Cream (€6.99 each)
>Renovage (for Aldi) Protective Day Cream and Rejuvenating Night Cream (€9.99 each)
>Clarins Extra-Firming Day and Extra-Firming Night (€67/€71)

Well, on the most simplistic level, texturally I simply couldn’t tell the difference between the any of the twos. Maybe I’m not supposed to feel a difference, but I think I should — I really do! I feel like maybe the night cream should be thicker and richer or something. If one is only for day, and one is only for night, there should be a marked difference, right? No? <— That only adds to the whole WTF of the whole situation.

I am, in part, tired of being ‘told’ that I need a million and one things to comprise my regime, even though I love my regime. So contradictory! But seriously, I have felt, in the past, that I get more action from a serum, say, than I do from even a daily moisturiser — EVEN THOUGH I am supposed to use both.

But having said all that…

Both the Ziaja and the Renovage were pretty good, considering the price. I am a great believer in getting what you pay for, and in general, high quality for low price is a pipe dream. The former wasn’t too too rosy, and the latter wasn’t as overly scented as many of Aldi’s offerings can be. There was not much of a difference between the two, nor between the creams within the pairs, but I would give the Renovage higher marks, mainly because the packaging is more substantial. The Ziaja tubs are plastic, and okay, for €6.99 you’re going to get diamond-encrusted crystal, but still.

Now. Okay, look, I know, know, if you buy both the Clarins products, that is €138. Holy smoke. I know! But remember what we learned at Skintime? The bittiest, littlest amount of product can go for miles, if you apply it correctly. According to Skintime, a mere pea-sized scoop massaged between the palms and then applied to the face does the job. I have been doing this since I had my session, and it works a treat. I use less product, so that what I have will last much longer.

So if you invest in the Clarins, you know you’ll get good mileage out of it. Because? I have to say, this is the one I felt was the most effective, and had the most convincing night cream {despite the texture issue.} On the mornings I awoke after having used this, I felt like my face was… well-rested? Refreshed. Yeah, that’s it: refreshed to a degree that I didn’t feel with the others.

I don’t know, I think routine, and the comfort therein, has a lot to do with this as well. As does aroma and, yes, dammit —> texture! I’m going to keep my eye on this topic, and the next duo I get is going to be put through its paces. Because even though I am kind of convinced, I am not wholly convinced.

Yes, You Do Need to Use a Foundation Brush

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Yesterday, at a launch for Benefit’s new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation {more about this anon}, their Head Make Up and Trend Artist, the vivacious Lisa Potter-Dixon, demonstrated the need for the foundation brush.

I have only once or twice bothered with such, and I’m all like, what, are my fingers broken? All assembled were given a compelling demonstration as to why a brush is a good idea.

Fingers are dodgy, covered in germs, and also: absorbent. Using a mirror, Lisa swept some on its surface with her fingers, and hmmm, streaky.

Cosmetics sponges are not much better, as we were shown. Most of the foundation was sucked up by the sponge, and in fact, seemed to be taking it off the mirror as soon as it was spread on it. Okaaay…

The brush, however, created an opaque and, well, flawless finish. As Lisa smoothed the make up on the mirror, there was collective ‘Ahhh!’ and several other expostulations. For a roomful of well-educated, seen-it-all beauty journos, that’s saying something. But then, a direct, no-fuss, straightforward Demo of Truth is always gonna work.

So there she is, the latest addition to my grooming routine. I sigh. Why? Another thing to forget to clean? Another thing to fret about packing? Sure, we’ll see how we got on, but I suppose once I get used to it, I won’t even know the difference…

€27.50/£19.50/$24