La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense Masque: Refreshing!

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HYDRAPHASE INTENSE MASKI don’t know that I can post about this quickly enough! With one eye on my iPhone, threatening rain at the end of the week, I feel like I have to talk fast!

This is great! My skin has been feeling hard done by — this is not a total complaint! Don’t go away, sun!

Okay, hang on, clearly need to take a breath here.

Combined with the general stone-splitting conditions please add two doses of horseriding per week, and my face has been feeling like an old boot. I lashed on La Roche-Posay’s newest addition to the Hydraphase family, and basked in its cooling, soothing properties. And when I say ‘lashed’, I mean loads and loads of product. I am usually quite scabby when it comes to masques, in part because I am trying to make them last, and also because I feel like a thick layer doesn’t really appreciably make a difference. A thin layer ought to work as well, if not better, as it will absorbs more efficiently. Right?

Whether the depth of the lashings made a diff or not, I don’t know, but I do know that my sun-kissed, arena-dirt-encrusted, tired, hot face was transformed upon removal of the masque. Or what was left of it*: I let it sink in as directed, and there was just about none left — meaning that my skin was as dehydrated as I suspected it was. Glad to know we were all on the same page.

There’s hylauronic acid fragments in it, so: anti-aging qualities as well. That’s just icing on the cake — or face. LOL. < I am giddy from all the Vitamin D. I’m beginning to think it’s a hallucinogenic. Like, I am still living in Ireland, right? O.o

Quitting whilst I’m ahead,
Love,
Sue.

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€16.50/£12.95/$24.41

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*The masque, not my face. Giddy!

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Okay, Okay, I Absolutely Have a Problem When It Comes to Lip Cosmetics

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ALL THE LIPPYs
Okay???! I get it. A normal human female probably wouldn’t have — oh, God, must I count them? — eighteen varieties of cosmetics-for-the-lips, on the go, right? This is not counting the ones that are lurking in pockets and rolling around in my handbags. Gah.

But, but, but — okay. Since I routinely take two of these along with me on a given day, because the whole day could change and require a different hue or texture, then it’s like there’s really nine. Nine lip combinations.

{…}

I don’t buy that either. Although I will argue that giving yourself the option to change up during the day makes total sense. Like, the Pür Minerals or the No7 — or the Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss? Theses are perfect for sitting-at-the-desk wear, but you might like to give your look a wee pop in the evening, with the Smashbox Limitless Lip Stain, or the Clinique Chubby. Or that Essence red, in between the Chubby and the Pür? It is the perfect summer red I’ve yet to come across.

So, you know, options.

Nevertheless, I felt a cull was in order:

FEWER LIPPYsOnly because I need to make room for more…

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Sorry, they just look so ronrey.

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Nurture Anti-Ageing Conditioning Hair Treatment: When Good Things Come In Small Packages…

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… if the thing doesn’t sparkle, it better do something useful.

First: adorbz!
NURTURE package

Second: handy!
NURTURE capsule

Could this be any easier to pop into a going-away bag? It could not.

Third: any good?
NURTURE HAIR

Yes! The softness, the shine… The Hair feels good, and looks good, too.

A few things:
> You need to be patient with the twisty top. The capsule is made of particularly soft soft plastic, so it takes more than one twist to get the cap to snap. I think it took me abut six twists. Careful! Don’t want to spurt serum all over the joint!
> As tiny as the capsule is, it felt like there was almost too much in it. It’s like the wardrobe to Narnia, or something. Speaking as a long-haired person, it was ultimately the correct amount. Shorter-haired persons may even be able to get another go per capsule.
> It is oddly, and yet welcome-ly, scentless. I sniffed my locks a couple times, I was that surprised.
> The serum has UV and thermal protection qualities. I never think about my hair getting baked by the sun, which = duh, espesh as my highlights gets noticeably highlightier in the summer…
> 20 capsules suddenly doesn’t seem like enough…

You can buy them online here, on nurtureskincare.co.uk for only £7.45, which is a snip, frankly.

And there’s a whole world of product on the site designed for mature skins, and the company are located in Guernsey, which looks stunning!

Let the hording begin…

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UPDATE: You won’t get second day hair out of this unless you use dry shampoo the night before. < Which, when I was first investigating how to use dry shampoos properly, wrecked my head {ha, ha}.

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UPDATE, MARK II: I used two of my carefully hoarded capsules on a recent trip to France. The water in France is usually rather hard on The Hair*, and it gets all dry and frizzy and dull. This stuff was magique: softness, shine and manageability were the same as at home. So, maybe the headline should be: Travel-sized Product Travels Well!

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*Occasionally, my diamond shoes pinch just the tiniest bit, too.

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Gonna Make You Sweat {Not!} Weleda Wild Rose Deodorant

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WELEDA deodorantIt is so desperately exciting to need to talk about deodorant! The last time we had a heat wave, I reviewed the Sage version of  Weleda’s natural deodorant. Wild Rose recently landed in my post box, and its timing was perfect.

I am all-or-nothing when it comes to me pits: I either totally forget to give them a spray or a roll-on, or I have about five that I use under different circumstances. There’s the one I’m using when I’m sporty {Sure Maximum Protection TRISolid Cream, €6.87}; the one where I’m going to be out all day, and into the night {Garnier Mineral Clean Sensation 48H Non Stop Anti-Perspirant, €3.14}; and the one that I use — holy wow, this is so weird! > when I’ve showered the night before because I won’t have any time in the morning, and need to be fresh and clean upon waking {Dermalogica Environmental Control, €20}.

The thing that draw me to Weleda is that it is sans those aluminium salts that are so bad for us. They use natural oils instead, to neutralise odor, and yet, in and of itself, this smells really pretty. I’m also happy to spread less aerosol into the atmosphere.

Mainly, I am into the wee 30ml size. I find I do need to top it up throughout the day, so its handbag friendliness is an added plus, even if it feels like having to top it up feels like a minus. Also: the perfect travel size.

Caution: I sprayed some on, post-shave, and it stung. So, maybe shave your pits at night. The more you know!

Also, also: if you purchase the 100ml size, you get a 30ml free, during July and August, which is terrific value.

***
€7.95/30 ml, €10.95/100ml
Available from selected independent health stores and pharmacies nationwide.

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Fudge Urban: Smelling Like Coconut is a Young Woman’s Game.

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Methinks. Or rather: Meknows. Fudge Urban Iced coconut Cocktail Mega Hold Hairspray €7.99

Dammit.

I remember — oh, let’s do this right. Once upon a time, back in The History of The Hair, there was a spray, a spray used by all the fairest in the land, which made no sense to me, because it smelled really, really bad. It was called Aqua Net, and it stank like dirty socks. It was, in a word, awful.

But there was nothing else. Nothing else that was suited to the limited financial resources of a high school girl. Or else, it was the hairspray that the cool girls used, so in the desire to be cool, we the uncool used it to. Or it was an elaborate conspiracy on the part of the cool girls to lure we the uncool into using it so that our heads smelled like the locker room at the end of a full day of PE.

Bitches!

Anyway, that’s what one used. And eventually one grew up {hmmm, questionable!} and lived in Brooklyn and worked in Manhattan, and began to use a concoction by Aveda, called Firmata, that was like… it was like shellacing your hair so that it would not move for a week. Which was spectac if you were at a roof party, or a river party, but not so great if you’d scored at one of those parties and maybe wanted the dude to touch your hair without drawing blood. It smelled so pretty that it drew them in, oh yes it did, but then proceeded to cut their fingers to ribbons.

Argh!

And then … one has not used much spray of the hair lately, until this dropped in for review: Fudge Urban Iced Coconut Cocktail Hair Spray. It claims 48hr Texture Hold, which: maybe, but I put so much stuff in The Hair, I’d have to have nothing in it to prove that this actually works.

What does work is its hold-without-the-frozen-beyond-movement effect, and its scent is incredibly appealing… but also a bit sweet and youthful. I’ll cop to the latter. The former? Em, no. Plus: serious clash with one’s chosen fragrance-of-the-day.

The thing is, I have so much coconutty product on tap — The Body Shop Coconut Body Mist is sitting at my right hand, wistfully waiting to be applied — that I could conceivably layer myself like a piña coloda. If it didn’t feel age inappropriate.

But!
FUDGE hairspray

Oh, herllooo 46A bus, it has been an age since we snapped a selfie from the back of the bus. That is a full-day’s-work, on-deadline head of hair. That held over the course of about ten hours, door-to-door, including two brushings.

Hmmm. There’s an Iced Raspberry and Vanilla flavour — would smelling like a smoothie be less morto?

***

€7.99; available in selected pharmacies nationwide.

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Platitudinous Truisms {Even So…}

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I begin this post by copping, absolutely, to the fact that I have been really fortunate to work my way into my beauty duties. I’m grateful for all the stuff I’ve had a chance to try, and all the procedures and treatments I’ve been lucky enough to avail of, for review. And despite all that, I still can be lax about self-care.

Self-care, as a term, makes my cringe a bit: a hackneyed catch-all covering everything from footbaths to talk therapy. I am fairly positive I’ve pitched and written more than one feature story in more than one newspaper or magazine, under this very umbrella. The reason I’m not one hundred per cent positive is that they all tend to blur after a while, and whilst suggesting that someone nip off to a spa to pamper herself is, at its core, reasonable advice, the notion of cost + time adding up to something manageable — well, it often isn’t.

We don’t really know what we’re walking around with, what we’re holding in our muscles and tissues, because we get used to it so quickly. And we get used to it so quickly because we have to. We have to get on, we have to keep going, we have to manage all the aspects of our lives, keeping all the plates spinning.

And then we read an article exhorting us to take care of ourselves, and it’s easy to come over all cynical and roll our eyes. So, despite my own eye-rolling even as I write this — jayz, we really need to mind ourselves!

It’s hard to do! Even organising a home spa day for oneself may require the kicking-out-of-the-house of many beloved relations, and even then, in the quiet, it’s maybe not so amazing because it is your own house, and your own bath, and you had to clean prior to and will have to clean following your gloriously indulgent scented bath. {I highly recommend this, as ever.}

I suppose you could swap with a pal? Like, clean your own bath, and she cleans hers, and then you go to the other person’s house and she comes to yours… and then if you are lucky enough to have kids, make them clean it? Lucky enough to have kids who would not tell you to go get stuffed?

Or maybe you do set your sights on a weekend in a spa hotel — maybe do a crowdfunding thing? Not, like, for some random weekend in October, but for a birthday. Get the whole family to send you happily on your self-caring way. Maybe?

I think it is worth every penny to be able to have an amazing treatment under professional, luxurious circumstances, but I completely get that it’s not always viable. Hell, I can barely remember to set aside a few quid to get a ten-minute chair massage done — which are generally always great, and as soon as I get one I think, Ah, yeah, must keep this up — and then don’t.

Consistency is an issue, atmosphere is important, and the opportunity to simply lie down and switch off… surrounded by rose petals and scented candles, with fresh fruit kabobs and sparkling water within reach, all the while gazing upon some bucolic view that includes copious amounts of blue sky, or a mountain, or both.

It is true that a change is as good as a rest, and a change that involves rest has to be off the self-care scale. It’s also irritating and frustrating when you want to do something, and you find yourself constrained.

One small thing a day, though… like, going to visit the cygnets in Stephen’s Green. Now, that just happened, I didn’t even know why there were all those people clustered around the side of the pond furthest from me, and then I saw the little grey furries swimming around with their mum and dad. Ah! It was such a pleasure, and so delightful to be with everyone else who thought they were great, and the kids who just couldn’t even believe what they were looking at. I suppose there are all manner of ways to restore oneself, and nature is as good as a facial.

CYGNETS — YEAH!

CYGNETS — YEAH!

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/sincerity

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Pucker Up, Peeps! International Kissing Day and LUSH

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I am only back from a weekend{ish} away — has everyone posted about this already?

Well, shoot, I’m going ahead anyway. Mainly because I have posted about the Emotional Brilliance range from LUSH since its inception, and indeed, have worn the very colour that I received in the post.

LUSH KISSING DAYInternational Kissing Day! Lock up your bros! I love kissing, and oddly, I loved the Guinness Book of World Records when I was a chiseler, so the confluence of these two things makes me happy.

Sure, you can read all the info on the postcard. There’s a hashtag — #crueltyfreekisses — and in order for Lush to beat the standing record of 22,174 lipstick kisses, you’ll have to head to your nearest emporium to participate.

You’ll not only get to front for the banishment of the use of animals in cosmetics testing, you’ll get to play with some of the brand’s fun lip stuff. The Mint Julips Lip Scrub smells like ice cream, and I’ve been meaning to post about the newly-aerated Lip Balms — they are the business. Pictured here is Lip Service, of which I am an ardent fan. All this prep will do wonders for yer kisser, and frankly, while I’ve delighted in the long-lasting quality, and rich hues, of the Liquid Lipstick, I do find them to be somewhat drying.

Here’s a photograph of the lippy, in the wild, from last year {and a follow-up post about its staying power is here.}
LUSH PASSIONATE

Do thisssss.

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See http://www.lush.co.uk for a shop nearest you — although I’m not sure that helps us much, on this island? Where’s the lush.ie, yo?

The shop over by Trinity can be rung on 01 677 0392.

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Liberté, Égalité, Beauté: Virginie Claire Beauty Centre

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This is a little bit cheeky — ha, ha, it’s about a facial! — but I was only thinking about this very treatment this very day, and I decided to re-blog it, cunningly presented as a new post. So, since I’m telling you, it’s not so bad, right?

Two things:
1} To remember a facial one year on is pretty significant.
2} I was thinking about this facial because I was getting a treatment — a full body exfoliation and massage — and it developed into a train of thought I’ll write about anon, as regards self-care, and the ‘treat’ part of ‘treatment’.

Anyway, just about a year ago this week, I toddled out to Rathmines to the Virginie Clarke Beauty Centre, and received their gorgeous Radiance Facial, which I have never forgotten. Happily, the same deal commemorating Bastille Day is on offer again, and starts on the 8th of July through to Saturday the 13th. Virginie says, ‘All participating salons, country-wide, will offer the facial promotion, with the extra benefit of having a great promotional discount on the PHYTS products. If you buy one skin care product, you can get the second at half price.’ Bon!

So, without further ado, here’s that Haiku Review.

Haiku Review: Phyt’s Radiance Facial

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 VIRGINIE CLAIREpackaging 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, which 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  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 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 and 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!

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

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Viking Chic? Nails Inc Floral Street Varnish and Goth-y FitFlops

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Loving the way the flat, bright white of Nails Inc‘s Floral Street just pops.

NAILS INC FLORAL STREET

I was going to go give myself a pedicure in Photoshop — gasp! Misrepresentation! — and then though, hmmm, might be more useful to show what happens after you have worn a pair of black tights, and have to touch up the big toes.

Now, I admit my toes are manky, and that the nails are the smallest you may ever like to see on a grown human woman {weirdly tiny!} and that maybe people come to The Internet to see perfect things.

I obviously don’t agree. What’s the point of pretending that this is varnish is not doing something that might bug you? Me, I’m happy enough to show the result of a quick and dirty touch up — I had to post and run, ha, ha — because it’s like, real, betches.

Anyway: the varnish is a bit gloppy, and in general the texture is a bit like white out. It took three layers to get the dead white.

I love it anyway! And in tandem with my dungeon-y vintage FitFlops (c. 2010), the overall look is on-trend monochrome, with a Norse twist.

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€17.10/£11*

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Price point alert! Sheesh!

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Are you people gonna tell me you put top coat on your toes????

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I Heart Lip Gloss. Specifically: Armani Flash Lacquer

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Hearting is down to shine: I do like a good shine on the lips. This used to manifest itself in a very Jersey frost; I am not ashamed, and indeed, tend to seek out a nice, silvery-pink on occasion. This pink, though — as ever in Giorgio Armani-land, rather soullessly designated as 520 — is pure, pretty shiny shine.

ARMANI gloss 2

And in less moody lighting:
ARMANI gloss 1

The photos are getting weirder and weirder over here — but I think this shows the gloss to great effect. {I was sick of seeing my schnozz take up, like, the whole feckin’ frame.}

I have a love/hate relaysh with the clicky-closure on this yoke. Sometimes, it just doesn’t seem to *snap* into place the way it ought. I then get paranoid about it and fall into an OCD rabbit hole, making sure it’s shut. Hmmm, that may be TMI. But be aware — it would be a darned shame to spend €25.50/£23.50/$29 on a gloss that ended up smeared all over your hairbrush. Ick.

Coverage is comprehensive, it doesn’t feel sticky, it stayed well put, and it doesn’t have a fragrance, which makes a nice change.

From left: 520, 102, and 526.

From left: 520, 102, and 526.actually makes nice change. I am looking longingly at 102, a champagney-hue, and at the sophisticated mauve-y sparkle of 526.

Seriously, though, Giorgio, do better with these names — hey! Maybe I’ll just give it a go!

…

Hmmm, this is harder than I thought. Well, I dub the centre gloss Effervescence because: Champagne. Oh, okay, and the last can be Sophisticate. Ha! I had already done this work, above!

…

Stuck on the auld 520, which is starting to sound plausible in all its numerical splendour. Blush, maybe? Eh, that doesn’t embody the prettiness, and the pinkness, though. Psychedelic Furry? {I know who’ll get that…} I’m going to go with Lustre, and feel dissatisfied.

Soz, Giorgio, all is forgiven.

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