I’ve always been a bit suspicious of toner, in that I’ve felt it an unnecessary part of a beauty regime. If you’re cleansing, do you really have to tone? I say this having been using Clinique’s Clarifying Lotion since, oh, forever. What am I even talking about? Continue reading
CLINIQUE
♥Day: More Lip Service
Well, this is a likely line up! Naturally, all of the above are perfect for every day use, but there’s lots ‘o’ smooching on ♥Day, so, get in shape, ladiez!
Whilst not the most romantic looking package in the family, I have to say that I am unconditionally in love with DERMALOGICA’s AGE smart renewal lip complex (€30/£22.50/$26). It’s hard to show its special feature in a crappy picture that I would take myself, so I gave up, but the top of the applicator is like a tiny collander: you spin the dial at the base, and the lip complex comes out of little holes. You don’t need much — I got great results with a half a turn — and it feels clean and neat. And so will your lips.
I liked the minty tingle I got from YES TO CARROTS’ C Me Blush Lip Tint in Cotton Candy (€8/£5.99/$10). This is a very light tint, i.e. barely there, but there’s just enough of a bit of glitter to pick up the light. It’s pretty and low key, a perfect combination of treatment and light make up, and purely excellent when you want to be able to reapply without looking in a mirror.
ORIGINS Lip Remedy (€17/£13/12.50) is a great go-to balm if your lips are in rag order. Chapped, cracked and peeling lips will find relief in the menthol/camphor based product, along with a whole bunch of other good things like French Thyme and Oil of Wintergreen. This feels like the perfect ski bum balm? I don’t know, I haven’t skied in years, but if I went, I’d have this in a pocket.
Okay, this is kind of a drag, but I’m going to go ahead anyway: because I saw ‘House of Fraser’ in the press release, and we have an HoF in Dundrum, I was all over this gig, a charity product by our friends from Clinique. This darling little pouch is the centrepiece of the Kiss It Better appeal, in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity in London. It’s not available in Ireland, which is a bust, but you can purchase it for £25 on the Clinique website. From left, the treats are: Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in Raspberry; Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour in Pink Me Up; Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in Woppin’ Watermelon; and Long Last Glosswear SPF15 in Mystic. I totally ♥ the little silvery bag…
Sisterhood of the Travelling Products: The Winnowing
Hmmm. Is this really any improvement a’tall?
Three lip things — there’s the Lush Latte yoke that didn’t make the last photo; one foundation {although I expect the Eau Thermale Avéne compact I’m reviewing will slip itself into a coat pocket}; one hair thing, one brow thing… a new thing {upper left} that came in the fabbbb Kiehl’s gift box that my sister-in-law gifted…
I don’t know, I guess this is a good edit.
The long shiny rectangular yokie is Clinique’s Black Honey Colour Surge Eyeshadow Quad, must share my opinion on that officially. Hint: it is excellent. The product, that is, although my opinion is excellent, too.
Well, I think I did do an okay job:
Yeah, fine. Oh, and I googled the Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask {bottom left} and they’ve redesigned the packaging. Yup, I knew it was old, but…
Clean the Slate: FACE Atelier Melt
Well, I was doin’ this wrong.
I don’t know what I was thinking, but I thought that the way to use FACE Atelier Melt was to squirt it into my palm and use it as I would a cleanser. This was not a completely disastrous approach, and it was especially good at wiping out the brow makeup; as regards the mascara and eyeliner, not so much.
The thing is, it is an oil-based yokie, and I am only converting to the notion of putting oily on the face. Blame adolescence — and sure, what blame can we not lay at the feet of the teenage years? — but I had a serious case of shiny face and the very idea of reverting to said shiny makes me want to cry.
And yet… I have been using balms to excellent effect, and they are not even oily, they are greasy! Cue nightmare. I am guessing, because I am on a roll and won’t pause to google, that oil-based products are the ultimate in hydration. Common sense, when you pause in your scarred-for-life narrative to have a think.
Right, so. Where was I. Okay. So, I have decided to use this for the next few weeks, and last night had the brainwave to dispense it on a cotton pad and use it like I would use any other make up removal product. Like, wow? <I blame the jet lag. Although when I was doin’ wrong before the transatlantic flight…
THE POINT IS: Totally superfantastic removal with the Melt. Gentle, effective, and thorough. There was some residual product, and I wasn’t sure if I should massage it into my skin. It felt like it would feel good to do, except that there was maybe still make up lingering. And I forgot to pack toner* [gasp!] so I ended up wiping away as much as I could, and went through way more cotton pads than usual.
That last is a bit pesky, but not a deal-breaker. I found some cotton wool, in pleats, at a €2 shop {remember when they were €1 shops? Ah, sure} While I avoided those in the past as well — because the cotton seems so loose, and therefore more likely to get into your eye — the combination of the two is quite a fierce cleaning duo.
You learn something new every day.
*Yeah, I forgot the toner, but worse, I forgot the clarifying lotion and I have to say, whilst I saved myself some space in the suitcase [but not all that much] I’m never going to make that choice again. It makes me yearn for the next winner in the Sweet Sixteen Sweepstakes, which will premiere tomorrow…
€29 on cloud10beauty.com/£24/$35
Sweet Sixteen: Clinique Clarifying Lotion
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.
I 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 the skin.
Despite its slightly astringent tingle, it doesn’t dry the skin. 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!
€36/$46/£33
I see that InStyle agrees with me…
Bright & Beautyfull! 