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

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NEW Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Eye Gel

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

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

Seven? Rose gold and silver, by Thomas Sabo.

One word: gorgeous.

PE641-rose

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

A1093-PE639

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

EC0005-rose copy

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

WA0177

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:
TS CHARM ROSE INTENSE lo
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?

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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.

GLAMGLOW BOX1

GLAMGLOW BOX2
Hello, yourself.

GLAMGLOW BOX3
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.}
GLAMGLOW JAR1

GLAMGLOW JAR2
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.

GLAMGLOW COMPOSITE
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

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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.
BURTS BEES TINTED 1

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?
BURTS BEES TINTED 2
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.
BLUSH ORCHID

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

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Debbie Wild is Lifestyle Director 957 JMV 04G DV Jo_Malone_Debbie_Wild_284 RGB_1MB 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.

Peony & Blush Suede100mlWhat 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 2nd 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

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So many things happening here.

CLARINS DELECTABLE MOUSSE

>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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Mystery Lippy: What Could This Be???

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DA LIPS?Those are some sleepy eyes: snapped this on my way into my part-time desgin gig, at the crack of dawn {8.30am} and cannot for the life of me remember what that lipstick is. Which is a shame because it’s lovely.

I am guessing it is Rimmel’s Apocalips in Apocaliptic, because that is my go-to, lightly textured, but richly pigmented hero lip colour of 2013 {thus far.} Or it may be Galaxy? I just checked here, and I think this may be the latter…

Or! It could be Passionate, from Lush’s Emotional Brilliance line, because I like that one too, when I’m feeling gobby, in the best possible sense. Actually, just checked this, and now I think I’m wrong about this, too.

Damn. Off to rummage through the archives and see can I dig this up…

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Let’s Review! Eau Thermale Avène Tinted Compact 50 SPF

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I reviewed this a year ago, and happily received a tweet from a pal last week, who was loving it as much as I did.

I felt it bore repeating, particularly as I was hosted by the actual spa itself only a week or so ago. I feel, even more strongly, the courage of my convictions, and will be posting about Avène-les-Bains in due course. Until then, read on.

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When reviewing things
It helps to read directions.
Call me crazy, right?

I love French stuff: the food, the wine, the lifestyle, the whole santé thing that they do. I’d never heard of the Avène line before, but have had the chance to try several of their products. I particularly got a kick out of the Thermal Spring Water, but haven’t really made it a big part of my regime. I was spritzing myself with the pressurised spray because I was bored during the snowpocalypse. It helped break up the day, and I suspect my skin, housebound as I was, enjoyed the refreshing sensation.

AVENE TINTED COMPACTWe don’t suffer from a lack of moist air in Ireland, so it doesn’t seem necessary to carry around a container of hydrotherapy in my handbag. Neither is the sun much of an issue, but SPF enthusiasts will insist that any sun is sun that is going to age us and give us skin cancer, so when the Eau Thermale Avéne Tinted Compact 50 SPF came through the letterbox, I thought, ‘Better safe than sorry.’

Of course, I didn’t bother reading exactly what it was so when I tried to use it as pressed powder, uh yeah, it didn’t work. Because it is foundation. Unaware, I swiped it over a face that was already sporting foundation. Crazy! I put it aside and forgot about it, scarred momentarily by my misuse of it.

Then one day I was running late, and I wanted to cut out the middle woman, meaning the time-consuming dispensing of foundation and then application of it onto my face > yeah, wha’? This makes sense to me, okay? Remind me to tell you about the time I used to take a cab four blocks to work — And so! So I picked this up, and using the pad that cunningly rests in the hinge between the top of the compact and the flip-up mirror, had a flawless face in three-ish swipes of product. I’ve never actually counted. I’m trying to reconstruct in my mind’s eye… okay… more like four-ish.

I brought this with my on my hols because it’s compact and effective and easy. It looks amazing, and it lasts and lasts. It’s also got a laundry list of excellent qualities — protection against UV radiation, free radicals, and sweat, as well as offering irritation reduction — but frankly the most important thing to me, at the end of the day, is that I don’t want to have to be touching up excessively throughout said day. This is a matte finish that combines the best effects of foundation and powder, and I am quite sad that I am near to using it up.

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€24.41/£15/$35

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Nimue Skin Technology Sun-C: Not a Freckle in Sight

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nimue pactsWhen I review SPFs, I am generally focusing on texture, absorption, and what does it smell like. I always assume that SPF works, but thanks to the recent meteorological vibe, now I know that some work better than others.

Case in point: Nimue Skin Technology Sun-C SPF 40. It’s UVA/UVB {is there a UVC, yet?}, has antioxidants, but mainly:

1} Applied as near to a proper moisturiser as I have tested. It’s thick, sure, but the kind of thick that feels like texture, not gunk.
2} No scent, hallelujah.
3} Dries a tiny bit tacky, which I suppose we’ve come to expect from a sunscreen, but again: far less tacky than that majority on the market.
4} Totally worked.

I’ve been feeling rather list-y lately. 4 is obvs the most important thing, and my no-fail environmental laboratory is, of course, horseriding. What a day was Saturday! The sun was only breaking the stones! It was roasting! We rode for an hour, sweating and all, and then I hosed down my trusty steed, and took him for an amble so he could cool down and dry off. I was about 2 hours exposed to direct sunlight.

After I got home, and cooled down and dried off myself, I noticed that
A} I had sprouted nary a freckle — not a single one, which is unbelievable, given that if I even think ‘sunshine’, my face erupts.
B} I had no colour at all, which is… well, good for the health of my skin. Ah sure, that’s what fake tan is for…

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RRP is €22 for 60mls

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ATTENTION Royal Baby Enthusiasts! Thomas Sabo Commemorative Charm

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Thomas-SaboI may have scoffed at the all the mugs and plates that accompanied the British Royal Wedding, but I am allll about the babby — which I think is a girl, and in whose name I predict that Anne will figure largely — and looooooook at the cutest iddle charm in da worrrrrrld!

You may remember the potentially traumatic loss of my beloved Thomas Sabo charm bracelet, a saga which had a happy ending, and as such, know of my love for the charms of Mr S. I also found myself, yesterday, googling royal baby is it born yet?, which is not at all creppy, nope, not one bit.

We have had an arrival, at least in the form of this adorbz wee charm. And it is wee, so if you’ve got some crazy shame around being excited about this, you can be subtle in the demonstration on your interest.
ROYAL BABBY CHARM

Will the actual baby be as cute as this?!?! One expects so…

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€44; where all Thomas Sabo charms are sold.

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