Start Spreading the Nudes: L’Oréal Paris BB Blush

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Information and an ear worm. You’re. So. Welcome.

I fell in love with Nude Magique BB Cream this time last year,and it is still my go-to when I want light but comprehensive facial coverage.

NUDE MAGIQUE BB BLUSHImagine my delira when I received this today! Despite my love for the above, which has a turns-colour-to-match-your-skintone quality about it, I am not certain I am convinced by this alchemy. I have come across a Smashbox lippy ting that I liked… hang on… ah, right: O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss. Yeah, I think I liked that, I am really reaching into the wayback machine on this one. Anyway! Haven’t been sure, because I don’t really know how it works, and also know that if someone tried to explain it to me, I’d zone out as soon as someone mentioned a molecule, or whatever. I could google it, I suppose. Ugh.

Well! The internet doesn’t seem to know! Unless how does intuitive makeup work is poor SEO. It’s to do with Ph, is as near as I can get. That’s when you put the paper in the liquid, right, and it changes colour? Is that chemistry? Did I even do chemistry? Oh, Walter White, are you dying right now, yo?

Whatever the Science, I immediately dabbed a dot onto my left paw.
BB BLUSH 2

First off: use a brush to apply, or do it the old-fashioned way and use your finger. Now, in fairness, you are not likely to dab the tube directly onto your face {or are you?} I dabbed straight from the tube, and the blending, it was a little difficult. < I don’t know that there was any point in all that, but there you go.

I’m just sayin’: blending may be an issue, so be prepared.

Other than that? A lovely, Victorian-valentine-esque rosy rose, the colour of which I think defines ‘in rude health’*.

Today, so far, is not a makeup day — that may change if the courier I am expecting comes sooner rather than later. Contrary to what you may believe, I rarely sit around the house sporting a full face of slap. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what it looks like on my cheekbone area.

I have high hopes!

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Nude Magique BB Blush: €11.99/£7.99

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*Which is British English for being very healthy, in which ‘rude’ = ‘robust’ .**

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**And it was no hardship to google that.

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Haiku Review: Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer

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Resistance: futile.
Originality: none.
Apocalips: now.

*Sigh* I’ve haven’t done one of these in age, and hell, that wee pome just wrote itself. I’ve seen some dissent On The Twitters, and different strokes/different folks, but as for me, I am lovin’ Apocalips Lip Lacquer from Rimmel London.

APOCALYPTIC 303
Above is Apocalyptic, and pretty much engenders everything I adore about these lippys. The pigment is APOCALIPS appintense, but the weight is light, light, light. The applicator is angled, doe foot style, with that little well in the centre — this allows you to get the bulk of it in the middle of your lips, where it belongs, and allows just enough lacquer to go around the edges of yer gob so you can build it slowly.

That’s Nude Eclipse to the right, which I think wins for the Most Inexplicable Lipstick Name Ever, but I love this one too; I find it is the perfect accompaniment to a deeply smokey eye.

They are glossy and again, light, like a lip gloss, but unlike dark glosses, they hold their own colour. I find that when I use many darkly pigmented glosses, they don’t mix well with the actual colour of my lips, and look like my mouth is past its sell-by date. Not terribly appealing. These have as much visual heft as a lipstick, at a third of the perceived weightiness.

In addition to the colours above, my other faves are Celestial {blue-y pink}, Galaxy {sparkly mauve}. Big Bang is another red that went a bit orange-y on me, but YMMV!

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 €7.95/£4.99

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Snap! Judgment: SkinCeuticals Mineral Radiance UV Defense

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Haven’t done one of these in an age!SKINCEUTICALS bottle

It’s a lot of name for a little bottle, but SkinCeuticals wants us all to know that this covers all the bases, much less your face {click on the photo for the full effect.} It’s got just about everything you’d want in an SPF, in that, among other things, it is like more like a makeup than an annoying sunscreen — a thick, greasy, odd-smelling sunscreen. Now, I’m getting much better about using the stuff, espesh when out on the horse, even under overcast skies, but it’s still something of a nuisance. Not as much of a nuisance as some class of adverse skin condition, of course! But still. What if you’ve got sensitive skin, the pores of which are easily clogged? I would have few if any products to recommend to you, in that case.

This looks to do all things that BB creams are meant to do, except this looks more science-y, and therefore possibly more trustworthy.

As always, when it comes to this sort of post, it does what it says in the title: I am simply reacting to this product in an instant — I haven’t had the chance to try this out in the world yet.

So the main thing with this is, it is tinted.

SKINCEUTICALS dot

Since most SPFs, if not all, are white-creamy-coloured, this is already something different.

It looked a little darker than that in real life {I will get a proper camera someday…}, and I was a tiny bit worried about that. I am not as sallow as I think I am, nor have I begun my annual tanning rituals, so I was somewhat taken aback.

There was, however, zero fragrance, and it felt light as feather.

Then, I blended.

SKINCEUTICALS blended

It is somewhat ruddier than my skin tone, but it’s got a lovely shimmer to it.

On my actual face?
SKINCEUTICALS on the gob

Well, it feels like there is nothing on it, which is exactly the point. It also looks like there is nothing on it, which makes it not like a BB after all. Howevs: the broad spectrum coverage plus the lightest of its being minus the sticky stinky quality of most SPFs equals something I will use under makeup, and also when I’m sporting about, as I do.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the sun, and will reach for this when it shows its face again…

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SkinCeuticals Mineral Radiance UV Defense SPF 50 is available in June, RRP €43. Ring 1850 812 740 for stockist info.

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What is Wrong with This Picture?

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SO RONREY
How crazy it this? Compared, of course, to this…
OMHaircare
… which is crazy in the other direction.

So what’s up with that?

A} The tub is smaller, in my new place — which I have lived in for a whole year, so is not really ‘my new place’, but is considered to be such, by me and many of my pals.
B} I have been trying & testing away, for The Herald, and have used up a lot of shampoo and conditioner in the last two months.
C} Er. There is actually a little bucket-y thing full of stuff tucked away here, next to the toilet.
SO RONREY, NOT
Ha, ha.

My bath looks so nice and clean and uncluttered! But also a little bit sad. Especially the super lonely little tub of John Frieda Sheer Blonde® Blonde Hair Repair Conditioning Treatment {€7.03}, which I use for pre-shampoo deep conditionin.

The thing is, every single one of these combos is a guaranteed Good Hair Day, of a Very Specific Sort.

*For a Thick, Full, Voluminous Hair Day: Well, Mane ‘n’ Tail, obvs. Couldn’t be happier to have this available in Ireland. Years ago, I ill-advisedly cut my hair short, and this grew it all back in like, no time a’tall.

*For a Super Shiny and Soft Hair Day: It’s a toss up between the Trilogy Refresh & Shine Shampoo & Conditioner {€15.95/each} and the Green Angel Seaweed Shampoo & Conditioner {€14.95/each}, because both are efficacious in the soft-and-shiny department. Neither are too fragranced, either, if that is an issue for you.

*For a Happy, Magically Clean and Healthy Scalp Hair Day: I am loving Aveda’s Invati Range. It’s a system! which includes Exfoliating Shampoo, Thickening Conditioner and Scalp Revitaliser {€27/€29/€54}; all three can be bought as a set from petals.ie for €100 with free shipping in Ireland.

And what’s in the bucket-y thing? That’s a post for another day…

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See here for the run down on the product in that second photo.

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Carrots and Bulldogs and Teeth Foam — Oh My!

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I almost called this post TMI, because I received so much info today, I feel like I need a lie down. This is good! and also my job to process it for you, dear readers. I’m just going to do big picture right this second, and get back to you on the details.

Premium hosted a whole lotta products and services today in Residence in Stephen’s Green, a venue that is swiftly becoming a second home. It’s as lovely as a home from home can get: have a look at this…
FLOCKED CEILING PAPERThat there is flocked ceiling paper. Ceiling paper? Is that right? It didn’t look like it was tiles — I couldn’t see any seams. How did it transpire that I had such a view? We’ll get to that. {Nothing saucy involved, more’s the pity.}

The Yes To… line have a big launch coming later in the year, adding Grapefruit, for dark spot and dark circle correction. I’ve got a sample of the Correct & Repair Dark Circle Correcting Eye Cream, I’ll get back to yees on this.

I blogged about Bulldog Natural Skincare back in September, when it was total crazy talk to be posting about stocking fillers. I bet you were rushing round like an eejit, trying to but for the d00ds in your life, hmmm? Don’t be caught short this year, and be sure to keep an eye out for the new additions to the line, in the form of Sensitive Shave Cream and Original Shower Gel. I’ll be Q&Aing with co-founder Simon Duffy in the near future.

Sharing space with the boy’s stuff was St Tropez, who have a new Gradual Tan Plus Anti-Aging for Face lotion; Lytesse, whose Shapewear is meant to firm up yer bum and take off inches {ah, sure, I’ll give it a go}; and Seche, whose one-coat wonder nail varnish was applied to my World Famous Supermodel Thumbnail™ and looks pretty amazing:
SECHE one coat

I didn’t get the rest of me fingers did because I was all like, Oh I don’t have the time — but then I got dazzled by the promise of Pearlys Teeth Brightening Treatment, and I just had to go for it.

Brightening, not whitening, which is what made it attractive to me: too scared of peroxide, and not so sure about lasering, I was happy enough to be convinced into giving the three part, roughly twenty minute procedure a go. Which was why I ended up flat on my back on a plinth, looking like The Silence of the Lambs.

PEARLY

Ahhahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa. I just don’t care. That is totally crazy, that picture. Don’t. Give. A. Toss. It’s funny.

And my teeth look brighter! And now I am encouraged to use the brand’s Daily Teeth Whiten Foam {€25}! And… yeah, no, that picture is totally insane.

Too much excitement! I deffo need that nap.

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For even more information, go to premium.ie

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Sweet Sixteen Minus Six: Clinique Clarifying Lotion

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NUMBER 1!!!!11! Hope you enjoyed this. When I started the blog, I just about killed myself writing these things. Unlike my work in The Herald, these posts seemed sooooo looooong, but now I’m in the swing. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for new reviews and features this week!

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When I was in my 20s, my godmother recommended that I start a proper skin care regimen. The gist of her argument was that just because I looked amazing and youthful right then didn’t mean that I could I take it for granted, and if I wanted to extend my years of amazingness and youthiness, I had better get cracking right away.

Clinique Clarifying tonerI chose Clinique. I can’t remember why, except that their fresh and spare ad campaigns made them, in my mind, modern and suited to my youthful amazingness. I got the 3-step thingie — the soap, the yellow moisturiser, and the Clarifying Lotion 2. I had to google the yellow stuff just now (Dramatically Different!) because I stopped using it ages ago, and the soap is distant, misty memory, but I have not yet found anything that is as effective as the Clarifying Lotion in terms of cleaning and toning my skin.

Despite its slightly astringent tingle, it doesn’t dry out my face. I just don’t feel like I’ve cleaned off the day if I don’t feel that blast of icy freshness. And who can argue with the power of Clinique Bonus Days! I ask you! Even after all these years of beauty largesse, the sight of a wee collection of cunningly assembled samples in some class of clever case sends a thrill racing through my veins. I’ve still got the mini bottle from that one Bonus that one Time, that had held Clarifying Toner — I continue to decant into it when traveling, and wouldn’t be without it.

Yes, indeed: many, many years on, it’s still a go-to/must have,/unassailable element of my beauty regimen. If you must know how many years it has been, well, I remember when all this product came in glass bottles. I think the years have been pretty kind to me, so clearly Clinique has done its job well. Many thanks to them, and to Auntie Sue, too!

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€36/$46/£33

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Sweet Sixteen Minus Six: bliss vanilla + bergamot

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The first time I posted this, I upper-cased the b, the v, and the other b, even though it is not the style of the brand. This lower-case-ness is all well and good on a shelf — not so much in a post or in anything editorial. I think it looks weird. It’s weird, right?

I forgive it, though, as I love this line entirely. Number 2 in the series; at this writing I continue to long for something for The Hair that smells of this lovely, lovely scent…

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I’ll always remember the first time I got a whiff of Bliss’ cunning combination of vanilla and bergamot: I was working as the art director of a super cool female’s magazine, and one of my colleagues pretty much thrust an open tub of the Body Buff under my nose. ‘Oh, my God!’ I sighed. ‘It smells like the beach!’*

V+BIf ever there was a hoard-worthy product line, it is this one. I couldn’t bear to not have it around, just in case — and ‘just in case’ = the possibility of sharing my fragrant, beachy, perfectly exfoliated skin with a… ‘friend’. As it is, this scent almost exists almost entirely in my memory, because I allow myself to use it so rarely. (Which either says sad things about the state of my… ‘friendships’, or implies that I choose my ‘friends’ with extreme care. Let’s agree on the latter, shall we?)

Oh, but when I do decide to break out the V+B, I do it thoroughly and completely. The Body Buff is truly superb, and one of the top five I have ever used. The Soapy Suds come next, naturally, and of course it is all capped off with the wonderfully rich Body Butter. I only wish there was a shampoo and conditioner. And a perfume. And a — a hat, or something. I wish there were clothes that smelled like this.

You think I’m kidding, don’t you? I am so not. The smell of the seashore is hardwired into the pleasure centre of my brain, so that, like a rat in a Skinner box, once I get a whiff of beachy goodness all I want is more. Some of the best times of my life were spent oceanside, and a tonne of unencumbered joy is triggered by the glorious scent of the auld V+B. I am a great believer in aromatherapy, and the days in which I walk around, wafting the joyful fragrance of undiluted joy and optimism, I have a very joyful and optimistic day. It is totally true.

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Body Buff £28/€39/$36, Body Butter £20/€25/$28, Soapy Suds £16/€22/$18

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*I have absolutely no idea why the combination of vanilla + bergamot smells like the beach, but it does.

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I have a line on a scent that will complement this perfectly, but is not Of The Brand. Can you guess what it is?!?

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Sweet Sixteen Minus Six: Too Faced Caribbean in a Compact, Snow Bunny

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Whoops! Here’s the number ten product in my revised Top Fave All-Time Products, which I should have posted last week. D’oh! Just as well, really, because there was a dead link within, and I tweaked this accordingly, with information as to how to order Sephora from Ireland, which is v v spendy. No wonder everyone goes bonks when in NYC or abroad…

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People often ask me, ‘Sue, do you ever buy beauty products anymore, and if you do, what would they be? ’The first one that always springs to mind is this cutie-pie compact from Too Faced: Carribean in a Compact Snow Bunny Subtly Sun-Kissed Bronzing Powder {which is now known in Sephora as Too Faced Snow Bunny Luminous Bronzer -ed}.

TOO FACED snow bunnyThat looks very ‘yum’ to me, like Neapolitan ice cream, which, as I suspected, is almost entirely an American construction. Here, you’ve go the bonus fourth flavour, which is probs the one far right, to swirl all over your face in order for it to look sun-kissed and glowy.

I was a bronzer loser when I started down the slippery slope of self-tanning, and this one was my salvation. Even I couldn’t mess this up. A perfect combination of lowlight and highlight, of gold + white + pink + fawn, this flows over the face like the sun itself, and during the Tanning Times, I never walk out of the door without it.

Imagine my distress when I began to run out of my trial version. It didn’t seem to be available anywhere in Dublin, and the brand no longer seemed to be represented by anyone in the PR world. So, on a trip to NYC, I lunged into a Sephora and grabbed up two. This number now seems optimistic: I’ve gone through the first one, and occasionally look at the other one in my drawer, with relief and trepidation.

At the time of this writing, I’ve rung all round town, to see whether a shop in town is carrying the brand, to no avail. Ah, well. There’s always online shopping, and as Sephora don’t have a store in the UK, much less in Ireland, you can order from France. Here’s a handy link, if you happen to read French; if not you can google-translate it.

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€26 from sephora.fr, plus shipping, which is — wait for it — €18 {merde!}/£22/$30

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Sweet Sixteen Minus Six: Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

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I keep losing track of — hang on — right, okay, this is number 3 of 10, and it is all I can do, on a daily basis, to not lash a bottle of this in my handbag so that I can re-apply it with the same regularity as I do with lip balm. This is delicious, and also so great for me pelt. And I absolutely can spell prodigieuse without looking.

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I am sensing a trend.

I really like things that smell nice.

Here’s another extraordinarily lovely-smelling thing, and it is also a thing that comes in another version with sparkle in it. Can it be more perfect?

I love it so much, I can actually spell Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse without looking it up.

NUXE-06This is a multi-use dry oil, which means it is not greasy, which means you can use it all over your entire self without worry> Hmm, yes, well. I used it once in my hair because there was a Nuxe shampoo that didn’t have an accompanying conditioner; it was recommended that I use this, and the result was not happy. I may try it again as an intensive scalp treatment yokie bob, because what else do I have to do with my time — but I also like to give things their fair dues.

Otherwise, using this everywhere else is highly recommended. The scent is delicious, and I suppose it is the result of the perfect alchemy of its ingredients: Borage, St Johnswort, Sweet Almond, Camellia, Hazelnut, Macadamia Plant Oils. Now, I wouldn’t know what borage smelled like if it crawled up my nose, but I do know the smell of almond as used in product, and suspect that the Huile errs on the side of this natural element.

Does it? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. This stuff is great first thing in the morning, as applied on damp, shower-fresh skin and massaged in deeply; all the way to last thing at night after you’ve cleansed and toned.

As if that’s not enough, there’s a Huile Prodigieuse Or that is a summertime essential. This is the one that brings the golden sparkle; I’ve decided not to wait for June, and will be dousing myself in this, liberally, to beat the January* blues.

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For 100mls: €30/£33/$45

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*Or the March blues, as apparently yees are up to your oxters in the horrible, cold white stuff.

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Sweet Sixteen Minus Six: Jo Malone Body Crème

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Into the final four! I had a hard time picking the top top of my Top All-Time Faves For Now, so, I don’t know, I think from here on in, they are all number one. I adore number 4 the way I adore my loved ones, no lie. May I acquaint you with a beloved member of the Conley family?

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Everything about Jo Malone feels rich: the beautiful cream-and-black branding, the boxes, the ribbons, and most particularly, the heavy glass tub that contains the luxurious body créme.

There is absolutely nothing like the Jo Malone Body Créme. I don’t like all the scents — and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you feeling completely suspicious of me if I did — but the ones that I do, I adore. Unconditionally. Without reservation.

Lime Basil & Mandarin. Pomegranate Noir. Amber & Lavender! Oh, I forgot about that last one. I went to swap the places of LM&B and PN, but I can’t. I don’t think I can. Can I? No, not possible. Even though I layer PN with pleasure, and everyone knows what it is, and I don’t mind everyone recognizing it, because it is so delightfully sensuous, and something of a signature scent for me … I still can’t put it first, because it wasn’t my first.

JO MALONE LBMLime Basil & Mandarin. I had no idea that this Sweet Sixteen was going to be so nostalgic, but I have just gone off into a mental video memory of the first time I got a whiff of the stuff. I had been hanging with some pals, enjoying the bubbling hot tub at the SPORTSCO Leisure Centre in Ringsend {why do I remember it as the ESB gym?} and then after repairing to the changing room, one of the women passed around the body crème. Its heavy glass jar immediately communicated its splendour, and an obsession was born.

I had to have it. I had to have it for myself. I didn’t care that I was suddenly smelling that scent everywhere I turned; rather, it became the clarion call of a little club of ladies who knew what was what when it came to self care, and about splurging a mad amount of money of a thing that didn’t last for an appreciable amount of time.

Ah, now! That last bit is not so true. Because it so well-crafted, you need less than you think to enfold yourself in the fragrant goodness that is a Jo Malone body crème. So all of us who were amongst the vanguard were less annoyed at smelling ourselves coming and going {oh, dear, that sounds nasty} and more keen to appreciate the savvy of our fellow Malonistas.

It’s like being a member of a club whose only agenda is to smell gorgeous. I consider myself to be a lifetime member, with honours.

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€63/£48/$75

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