Mane Salon: How to Achieve Hairvana

Back in… hang on. Yeah, okay, it is totally understandable that I couldn’t place this particular event. It really could have been any time this year, because the weather has all been the same, and I guess many rooms of my Mind Palace classify information with attendant meteorological elements. Which, after all this time living here, you’d think was pointless in the extreme.

I was trying to visualise the Wella event that yielded me those RayBans, and I thought, Hmmm, this memory feels a bit chilly, but not exactly like winter. Crazy ol’ me, I tend to think of that as ‘March’.

Back in July, Wella took a rake of us beauty gals out to a fancy meal, to celebrate the launch of Illumina Color, which, if you are too busy to click through, is ‘a new range of natural looking hair colours that increases the level of light reflection and shine when the hair is dyed. We saw several representative treatments — blonde, red, brunette — and they were very, very Wow.’

In a bid for some of that Wow, I went to Mane Salon in The Grooming Rooms in South William Street, and took it for a spin.
Continue reading

Festive Fillies: Nieces and Cousins and Sisters, Oh My!

Like you didn’t see this coming.

ZHU ZHUThese Zhu Zhu ponies are adorbs, and come in many colours and styles, and were unknown to me until I got a bunch of press stuff from Boots. Now, I know that when I was a girl, I loved mooching about in a pharmacy, looking at all the beautiful things — what am I talking about? I was mooching about in Boots, like, last Thursday!

Anyway, many may have a mental block about shopping for gifts in a chain of chemists, but honestly, there is nothing like brightly and beautifully packaged objects to appeal to young girls. Or older ones. Ahem.

Pictured is Cruz, and she is all about peace, man. You can go here and check out the other ones — I am torn between Blackberry and Rumer. I do object to the latter mainly because of the misspelling, and isn’t that the name of some Hollywood child?

These make noise and spin! {?} Eh, listen, they are adorable, there is a stable house too, and a corral!

Um. Yeah! Gifts for the young girls in your life! Look no further!

***

Boots are doing 3 for 2 Christmas Gifts! Zhu Zhu Ponies are €12 [approximate]/£10

Festive Fellas: L’Homme Sport Coffret from Roger & Gallet

I wrote about Bulldog back in September. What was I thinking??!? Sheesh. Anyway, good stuff, and I had a dude try out the Original Shave Gel, and his  review consisted of, ‘Yeah, it’s good, I like it,’ which in dude-speak = overwhelmingly positive. So enter the way back machine here to see the whole line. {September?!?! What was I thinking??}

Let’s think about this, instead.

R&G HommeSport Coffret RRP€39.00This is very sophisticated packaging, which is not surprising as Roger & Gallet routinely produce gorgeous containers for their products.

L’Homme Sport has that fresh, citrus-y top-note thing happening, which makes it sporty, I guess, but it’s also got peppercorn hanging out in the blend as well, which is terribly exciting, for those of us who like things to be rather… savoury.

Back to the package {LOL}. It’s really clean, and the designers did a great job of making this fresh and manly, just like the fragrance. The fella in your life that might like to smell good, but feels self conscious unwrapping toiletry-type stuff, will be completely gratified by this gift.

As will you!

***

€39

A New Favourite Outfit

There’s a Clarins launch tonight, that I hope to get to — feeling like I am battling off that stupid tummy lurgy that has been felling people left, right and centre. Anyway, I am reminded about an outfit I liked so much that I took a photo of it. {Reminded because I wore to another launch hosted by the lovely PRs I hope to see tonight.}

Circles! And a nice semi on the toe of my Dué Ballerina FitFlops about which I have yet to blog… because they don’t really fit all that well. And I am still in denial about it, a bit.

Anyway! The dress is from Penneys, and the hose is Wolford, and I can tell you truly that they cost exactly 3.69 times the amount of the dress. Which just goes to show… something.

This ensemble: definitely making the trip across the water with me at The Christmas.

Also, circles are my favourite shape.

***

What’s your favourite shape???

Festive Feet: Pixy Pedi Gift Set

Ooh, what could this beeeeeeee?

It is a clever and cute giftie from Pixy, Ireland’s natural beauty brand. Based in Co Cork, they’ve made a splash — ha, ha — with their bath bombs and bath muffins, bringing not only jobs to the south, but also clever and beautiful products for the rest of us to try.

I love the bit of ivy! Well, you know, it’s not real, but everything else about this is. The foot scrub is loaded with cocoa butter, and the peppermint foot cream with… yeah, you can figure that on your own.

Adorbs! I’ve also gotten my hands on a Pixy Dream Gift Set, which includes one bomb, one muffin, a shower mousse that comes with one of those scrubby yokes, lip balm, body oil, and a slice of soap — the last being my fave of all things. I suspect it will last me a long, long time. Added bonus is that it makes the whole bath smell lovely, but doesn’t overwhelm.

There are loads more on their site at pixy.ie, and you could pretty much sort out all the female members of your family, and possible all your pals as well.

Shipping in Ireland is free for orders over €50!

***

Pixy Pedi: €16.95
Pixy Dream: €29.95

Festive Face: All is Bright Lip Glaze Set from Stila

What is anyone going to do with eight lip glazes?

What’s anyone not going to do with eight lip glazes?

Seriously, this is like the gift of gorgeous lips for every occasion.

Stila Lip Glazes were new to me, mainly because the brand has had a spotty presence on this island. That’s all changed, and I was delighted to get stuck in to this yoke.

From left: Jack Frost, Jingle, Holly, Jolly, Joy, Splendor, Black Cherry and Sugar Plum. The last two are available all the time; the first six are limited edition.

The brush applicator allows you to apply the glaze with precision. Glaze is not gloss, although these are way glossy. You can’t just feck this on — well, you can, but then it’s not going to look its best.

So: brush applicator on the top of the pen, and you dial up product as needed. Each one smells lovely, and I tried the Jolly and the Black Cherry. Both have really good pigment; the glaze is, by nature, pretty sticky, so don’t eat a bun and expect everything to be a-okay; I am gong through both at a rate of knots.

Biggest appeal is the delicious scent. I wouldn’t be wild about overly fragranced things that go on the face, but these are subtle and delish.

Price-wise? Amaze-Christmas-balls, because I have seen these bad gals for €18 all on their own. This kit is €24/€24.99/$25. From sparkly to matte, from dark to light, this is a variety pack at at its prettiest and most versatile.

***

 

Festive Form: FIVEPOINT Gloves from Etre

Is cold! Can you want for Santy? I think not!

And what better way to assess the giftability of something than to try it yourself? {I fear this will be a defining characteristic of this gift guide…}

Behold, Etre FIVEPOINT Gloves in Oxford Blue Fairisle with Pearl Tips: Lambswool.

What is the big deal, apart from them proudly declaring you to be a Sarah Lund-ite?* The big deal is that you can keep these gloves on whilst texting, tapping, and generally interacting with your Smart Touch-screen device. Incorporating contactwoven® technology, you don’t have to peel off to log on.

This is a big deal for me! I have a pair of Etre TouchyWool Gloves, and they were grand — the forefinger and thumb are essentially topless, but even that little bit of exposure to the elements was a little unpleasant.

These work. I didn’t believe it either, but they do. Navigating is a doddle, texting/tweeting is a bit trickier, but I suppose practice makes perfect. If nothing else, I can swipe and switch my tunes without having to wrench off a glove.

Also: excellent unisex prezzie. Bonus!

***

£40.

See http://www.etreshop.com to buy, and for many more beautiful products.

*Yeah, okay, so, it’s not Faroese, but still: jumpery, and also retro, is Forbrydelsen enough for me.

Festive FREAK OUT: Time to Shop for Christmas!

It took me waaay too long to figure out a signpost-y theme for the 2012 Bright & Beautytfull! Gift Guide. Too many years in editorial? Too many years in America? < meaning that I was subconsciously adhering to a ‘don’t speak of Christmas before Thanksgiving’ which is completely irrelevant nowadays?

Whatevs: we’re going with Festive: Name of Category, and I am done freaking myself out about it.

And then I started thinking, Hmm, all your categories start with the letter ‘F’, you know, and than I started overintellectualising that, and I thought, No, seriously, nobody cares but you inner monologuist, so be silent, silent like the holy night.

You can google the letter F — and the first hit is Facebook! Not even its own Wikipage! Poor wee F, had no say in its appropriation, I’m sure.

It is actually amazing how many categories can adhere to the plan, so be looking out for the following Festives:
>Face
>Feet
>Form
>Fellas
>Fragrance
>Furnishings
>Filles
>Face
>Feckin’ Amazing

… and the last being my, ha ha, Favourite because it Full of things that are very feckin’ amazing.

Fun!

***

Let’s start with some Furnishings.

Lovvvvve itttt. Look at those colours! Festive, and breaking free from the tyranny of red and green {and silver and gold!} All the bits — the ornaments, the baubles, the tinsel, the garland, the Noel letters — are only €1.49 at Dealz! Fantastic! I would totally paint a wall that blue as well, to set the whole thing off.

{The tree and the chair, and the table: not €1.49}

If you are into the red and the green {and the gold and the silver}, you’ll find that, too. My local Dealz is a bit on the bijou side, but the one in Dundrum is an epic experience in adventures for €1.49.

***

See dealz.ie for more information.

So Many Palettes, So… Few… Eyes

Where’s a spider when I need her? {Ick.}

Someone recently asked me, do I wake up in the morning and just start plastering on the slap? Well, my interlocutor put it far more elegantly, but that was the gist.

A: Not really. I suppose I ought, but I do need to answer the buzzer fairly often, and don’t like the idea of nipping down the stairs looking like something out of A Clockwork Orange. I never know when the delivery lads will appear, and they inevitable would, mid-eyeshadow application, I’m sure of it.

Lately, the world has been treated to full eye makeup, even if I’m just going down the High Street to do me messages. It’s kind of funny, because the women in the know are all like O rilly missus? It is all of 2 of the clock! and the some of the dudes get a little flustered. Bless.

To wit: Yves Saint Laurent Pure Chromatics Wet & Dry No. 19.  {€56} Very sparkly for the daytime, one would assume! In actual fact, once you do a decent blend, there is an attractive shimmer; you won’t look as though you fell face first into a vat of glitter. Unless you want to, of course! The all you have to do is lay it on, baby!

Clinique Plum Seduction {€32}, which figures largely in their Limited Edition Black Tie Violet gift set for The Christmas. I blended too well when I applied this — sorry, no pictures of me sporting any of these, which is not helpful, I know, but they didn’t turn out well a’tall — and whilst it made the blue of my pop, it also made my eye area look a little bruised. I think it’s either all contrast with this one, or none whatsoever. Second hue from the left is the culprit, methinks, just too bland, but the third from the left will make for a terrific Purple Smokey Eye.

No. 7 Deco Darling {€12.95} is Boots’ tribute to The Great Gatsby, and it is soooo Deco, darling! I am easily delighted: that fan-shaped thingie, the embossing, is terrifically fab. The similarity in hue and intensity is not so fab, however: it goes on well enough, but in the course of the day, the colour all dull down to the same degree. The deep charcoal is super for lining the eye; stay away from the silvery gray.

Today’s palette: Clarins Ombre Minérale 4 Couleurs {€40} in Odyssey, which may be a limited edition. Look at that goldy one! This is a terrific palette for wearing during the day, then sparking up with that goldy bit!

This one is wet & dry, too, and begs the question: does wetness not muck up the wee applicator beyond all redemption? I use my own fancy brushes, thanks very much, and I suppose I ought to be cleaning them more often than I am — oops— but seriously, is it worth it? I’ve only applied shadow wet once, and it worked out grandly, but I really do hesitate. Also: I forget and am halfway through the face before I remember.

Can the MUAs among us advise?

***

Special Guest Post @lovelygirliebits!

No, hey, over here!

Okay, wait, before you go, just have to say how chuffed I was to be asked to contribute to someone else’s blog. Karen from lovelygirliebits is my first internet/blogger/Twitter friend — awwwwww! — mainly because we watch the same programmes and tweet about them all the time. Ironically, she is over in NYC for The Thanksgiving, whilst I am over here, turkeyless.

Ah well, go over there, to her site, and check me out, and then check out the rest of the blog. It is fab!