It Is NOT Bandwagoning If One Is Already OBSESSED: Hudson Williams, Heated Rivalry, and Skincare

It me, I am ‘one’.

Hey, you what? It is so fun to be part of the recent cultural psychosis over Heated Rivalry.

In my guise as Susanna Allen, I recently posted about my feeeeeelings about the fact that Rachel Reid, author of the Game Changers series, has been left short by her publishers, Harlequin. See here for the full rant; I can feel my blood pressure rising all over again.

Instead! Let’s talk about the boys. Connor Storie and Hudson Williams have rocketed to fame, as well they should. As one (there goes ‘one’ again, wtf) who has read the entire series of novels, seeing such a well done adaptation was satisfying enough, but the lads have just been so feckin’ charming on all their press outings! Heart them!

And I HEARTTTTT this 20 minute dive that Hudson took into his regime, and his vast array of products is the best collision of my worlds. Thank you to The Cut for giving us what we didn’t even know we desperately needed. This is the prose version of the chaotic but adorable and informative video.

Love the shout-out to the old school Clarisonic, which has been experiencing a renaissance of late and should now basically go through the roof. I had so many of them at one time, I gave away at least two. (I’m fully still all about the Clinique Sonic, tbh…)

Will this be the year I get a Gua Sha Stone? Eh, I know myself and I won’t keep it up.

I am absolutely trying the Numbuzin No. 3 Toner, because I am deluding myself into thinking that’s the ONE THING that will give me his poreless complexion.

Other highlights… oh, I ordered the SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule off my own bat before this came, so I haven’t been entirely influenced… AND also a top-up of the VT Cosmetics Reedle Shot; I got the 300 version, though, because: age.

I am also interested in that JMsolution Placen Horse Mask Set except it looks very fiddly, which I will also lose interest in.

Do not even talk to me about the fragrances, because I cannot even; I am off to search engine Huberman Breathwork and also order some of that Aquaphor Healing ointment while I look at more HR edits on TikTok before heading over to AO3 for the latest fics…

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Please come shout with me about Heated Rivalry in the comments!

From The Archives: GlamGlow SuperCleanse

In which I reveal that I am, in fact, a dragon.

I was fortunate enough to have an overnight at Johnstown Estate Hotel which included yum cocktail, gorge food and and a spa experience featuring Elemis products.

I knew I had a cache of Elemis at home and once returned, went for a dig. One of the moisturisers basically had liquefied entirely, and a scrub had turned to stone. I did manage to get great use out of a night cream and my Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is, happily, in excellent nick.

Time to start using stuff that I am holding onto, I decided! What is the use of this horde of product if they are silently falling to bits in a variety of boxes?

My hand hit this:

I adore GlamGlow masques and reckoned this ought to be as good. And it is.

It’s lightweight yet effective, works really well applied to the skin and then brushed around by an appliance the like of the Sonic Face Cleaning Brush from Clinique. (Which may be a whole ‘nother post as I realise I’ve got several different attachments I haven’t used, hmmm.)

However, after a few days hanging out in my shower, this happened:

Yuck! I put off using it that morning since I didn’t want to be scrubbing foil in my face. I set it out to dry and considered whether or not I could… replace it? Like… what? Where was I going to find a new cap? Surely in my horde, but then what to do with the uncapped one?

I scraped off as much as I could, and I’ve since put in the one of my three suction-cupped shower caddies that experiences the least spray.

Decanting it into one of those travel-type dispensers you can buy at the euro/dollar store might serve… eh, I’m already losing interest. The product is good but not really worth all this if-ing and but-ing.

It’s not as though I don’t have a bunch of boxes to paw through and see what else I have! Thus, the drawbacks and benefits of proverbially crouching over the spoils of my years as a proper, paid beauty journo…

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Notino Dot Ie Haul Under €50

Everybody but the US can enjoy this site (soz)

I had to have a think about how I came upon notino.ie (scroll down for links to your country). I am a fragrance fangirl* and I may have been clicking around looking for a reasonable facsimile of D&G’s Velvet Desert Oud… but I think it’s because I came across Barnängen as a product line and did the google and it lead me there.

It was a fortuitous google indeed as I am now addicted to their shower creams and gels, all under €6 a pop. I’ve tried their body cream and the pump version didn’t pump so great, and the body butter is fab but really thick, so that’s like a night time application, no good for someone like me who is always rushing out the door of a morning. It’s like cake icing only thicker, so you need to plan for using it.

I hadn’t been happy with the shower gels I had on rotation, so I visited the site in order to stock up and went a lil bit bonkers.

Hidden in the back is HASK Curl Defining Cream; my hair is wavy enough to be able to encourage some curls if I apply stuff like this to damp hair and twist it up for 24 hours. I’ve tried it and can happily recommend. I mean, I don’t get any gorgeous corkscrew curls, but I do get tighter waves; don’t expect miracles.

The rest of the stuff you can read the labels yourself. I will say the OnlyBio only works well on damp skin and the Dermacol nail hardener there isn’t great.

I will also say that huge Syoss shampoo was the free sample I checked off when invited to choose one! I will also say I reckon it’s been sitting in the warehouse for ages as the bottle was literally actually dusty. But I lovvvvve itttt not only for its size but for its efficacy. I forgot how good keratin is for my hair.

I had a coupon code for 15% off because I’m on the mailing list, and also got free shipping, so I’d say this was excellent value (ymmv).

That’s me set up in shower gel for a good while anyway!

*Watch this space for an absolute squee over some French perfume I found circuitously via TikTok!

From the Archives: Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights

In which I shut my eyes and grab the first thing my hand hits, no matter how agéd.

Look how pretty she is!

Guess what though: she is usssselessssssss.

At first, I thought I was using the wrong sort of brush, even though it looked like a blush/highlighter brush… Grand, thought I, I’ll just use the chunky brush I’d been using for my Hourglass Ambient Powder, a nice, fat, mushroom type cluster of bristles.

Yeah, nah. Made no difference. Repeated passes of the brush took up little to no product. Was I not transferring enough of the darker hues? Made not a blind bit of difference. At one stage I ran the compact directly onto my palm and … wow, I’d never seen so little impact from a product, ever.

(Haven’t I? It’s worth thinking on…)

I went looking to see if they replaced it, but it doesn’t look like it. I think I may have hoarded some Too Faced Snow Bunny; I was going to say, I’ll do that for the next archival grab but I waxed lyrical about it over one entire decade ago. hashtag FFSL.

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Interested in paranormal Regency Era Romance? Visit susannaallenwriter.com and please consider giving us a follow there, too <3

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Blogging: Back?

APPARENTLY! With Txitter’s recent descent into the deepest depths of toxicity, and Insta’s desire to not only target us with ads rather than the posts of our followers, but also to chase that TikTok vibe, social media is going through some changes.

Serious ones, serious enough that the general consensus seems to be: time to get back to blogging.

There are a couple of things going on here that are worth flagging. The first is that the internet is not forever. The Wayback Machine makes a liar of me, but I’m not referring to storage, I’m referring to that ineffable thing that make a site A Thing.

Remember I Can Haz Cheeseburger? Cute Overload? Gawker? The Hairpin? Not a one remains, or in existence in its founding form. Tastes change, ads fail to raise enough revenue to keep things running, those behind the scenes burn out.

The rise of the socials surely something to do with the demise of the above and others like them. The commentariat was the place to see and be seen, but that space soon became a thing of the past. Yes, sure, YouTube, but everyone knows that section is a dangerous neighbourhood.

The transition of Txitter from the world’s living room to blue-check disaster epitomises the reality of things changing. We can’t count on this stuff being free, and if we have to pay, we may as well do it from our on little corner of the ether.

So here we go again, I guess! I’m no longer a freelance beauty journalist, and my only free stuff is the leavings of colleagues on certain magazines. This may in fact free me up to be even more honest than I have ever been. I’ve got some posts in drafts that never saw the light of day, and will be sure to fill you in on my latest books under my pen name, Susanna Allen*.

Here I am enjoying a sheet mask. It’s Garnier, which I consider the best on the high street; I’m not convinced that any actual skincare is conveyed by this delivery device, but it makes makes me sit still for 15 minutes which is saying something.

Back on my shizz

I highly recommend Seoulista Rosy Glow Primer sachet: it gives seriously good undercoat for the rest of your makeup. Prices seem to be ranging from €5.95 to €8, which is very broad; I’d go looking for a three pack if I was you…

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*Readers may like to visit susannaallenwriter.com

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SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator

AKA: BI-FUNCTIONAL RESURFACING AND REPLENISHING SERUM

Oh, hi.

I brought this away with me on my Christmas journeying, because I have this ridic idea that if I bring something that’s nearly gone and use it up while I’m away, it’s, ummm — a good use of the product? And that my case will be lighter by .0000001 of an ounce coming home?

Well, I didn’t use this all up in the three weeks I was travelling because it was so good and amazing I brought the rest of it home. Less eager to see it go, I had enough for three more weeks and I am raging it is gone.

*sob*

When I got the sample, I duly used it and reviewed it for the paper. I found it effective enough, but I had four other serums I was working on and moved on fairly sharpish.

In this last month and half, it certainly stood out. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror about two weeks in and thought ‘Hey, my skin looks pretty fantastic.’ Glowy, clear, and a noticeable decrease in pigmentation — should I start hoarding this?

This is formulated to exfoliate without scraping away your good skin while reinforcing the skin’s barrier against the bad stuff. I was using a whole dropper of it which was unnecessary as the coverage is incredible.

It’s obvious, but using something good consistently yields results. (It’s pricey: anywhere from €61-98 online, gahhhhh)

Saving my pennies for another round: if I hadn’t been so eager to mow through it, I’d say it’d last me at least four months. #TRUTH

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Bank Holiday Spa Staycation: All the Stuff I Never Have Time To Do

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND… or rather, some of the stuff I never have time to do. It’s mainly those oils that get short shrift in the regime, which is a pity because I loooove oils and I love the deep moisturising kind of thing that they produce.

Let’s start from the left, though, just to keep everything organised.

The Clinique Sonic {which I pronounce in my head as ‘Sonique’, surely a missed opportunity for the marketing heads} has launched a Massage Treatment Applicator {€25} to go with their new Sculptwear Contouring Massage Cream Mask {€48} and I think it is just terrific. This new applicator, which is metal and was developed by dermatologists, feels like it is doing the work of those sorts of facials that inject serum into the skin. This wouldn’t have exactly that function, but using the Sonic to make sure that you’re getting the fullest benefit of the mask is a no-brainer: it gets the product deeper into your skin than your fingers can do.

The scent is gorgeous  and my skin looked fresh and vibrant, but the 50ml tub feels a little tiny, as I felt I used a little more product than I would under normal, non-vibrating-applicator circumstances, but that’s my only criticism < which, in fairness, isn’t negligible, but given the result, I think I can cope.

I am sucker for a cult product, and La Roche-Posay’s Serozinc {€10} certainly qualifies, with the number of women who have had to stock up on this whilst abroad can attest. I don’t suffer from blemish-prone skin, but I do like the odd pore-tightening {TWSS} and this toner promises to do just that. I found myself giving myself the odd spray every time I passed, and the refreshment was of the highest order. I’ve never really gotten into the ‘spray spring water on your face’ thing that has been made famous by other French spas — and the weather certainly hasn’t been roasting enough to encourage that practice — but I am so lazy with toning that I’m hoping I get into the habit with this. Dat price, tho: best value for a toner of any stripe.

I loved the results I got from label.m‘s Brightening Blonde range, and I have to say it may be replaced in my affections by their Honey & Oat line. The shampoo {€14.97} and conditioner {€18.64} are the bomb, although I do find that the conditioner doesn’t do the best job of making my tangle-y tresses easier to untangle. Luckily, the Treatment Mask does a better job, and I did a good job using it — I left it on for a good long while in the shower, and my hair felt like silk when I dried it. LABEL M HAIRLooked like it too, without any styling: just a good blast dry and brushing, and my highlights look rejuvenated as well. I’ll have to be using more of the conditioner than I’d like, perhaps, but I am very happy with this trio. And smelling like a delicious autumnal bowl of porridge is no bad thing, either.

Onto the oils! There’s nothing like applying a scented oil to a damp bod, but who has time for this in the normal run of a week? Not me, so I took advantage of allll the time at my disposal and lashed on Neom‘s new 3-in-1 Face, Body & Hair Oil {€43 RRP}. I tried the Daily Boost version, that comes infused with Wild Mint & Mandarin: On wet skin, a little goes a long way, and two days later, my pelt still feels nice and silky. I am wary of things that say they can go all over you, and haven’t been brave enough to try it on the hair, or the face, TBH.

I was more than happy to use No7‘s Youthful Replenishing Oil on my visage, obvs, and put this on fresh out of the shower as well. Loaded with rosehip and jojoba, and Vitamins C, E and A, I put some on before bed too, which I am sure is something that a beauty expert might caution against — one may get too much of a good thing, mightn’t one? — but I didn’t care. My face didn’t fall off, so.

Vichy Laboratoires have revamped their Pureté Thermale range, and I liked the look of the One Step Cleanser {€14.99} — although, again, not sure that using it to remove eye make up, the third element in the 3 in 1, would be something that I’d attempt. I hate creamy cleaners on my eyes. Otherwise, I found this very effective, even though I only used it once at the beginning of this whole process. It’s kind of scary how, even when you think you’ve done everything to cleanse your skin, there’s still pesky bits of foundation stuck in your pores. This did a good job of getting the leftovers off, and I’ll be bringing it into my usual schedule.

But now, it is the dreaded post-Bank Holiday Tuesday… once more into the breach, my friends!

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You can find label.m on http://www.lookfantastic.com or on http://www.kaos.ie.

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Thinking About Packing: Clinique Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush

Only mumble mumble weeks ’til The Christmas, and I am already thinking about packing up the big bag on wheels. Unsurprisingly, I always end up taking loads of stuff, as per here, and yet find the whole grooming-situation-away-from-home to be unsatisfying. My skin almost hardly ever feels as shiny and clean as it does when I have all my stuff to choose from. I like having options, and in the interest of leaving space in the big bag for the fruits of two+ weeks in America, I try not to load up on too much product.

CLINIQUE SONICHowever! I think my skincare dreams have come true thanks to this cute little number.

Here is Clinique’s new Purifying Cleansing Brush. It powers itself up via USB, which is great for me as a standard Irish/UK plug wouldn’t suit me for travelling, and the little holder it sits in while it charges is no size a’tall. The thing itself is of no size a’tall as well, and yet it is as good a cleanse as any of the larger, heavier brushes I’ve tried in the past. Its slimline design makes it a much more attractive proposition to take along on the road — although I do wish there was some class of equally lightweight carry case. It’ll end up wrapped in a baggie, tucked into a pair of socks and then stuffed in a boot — I really am thinking about packing — but I wish it had something a little more protective to keep it in.

CLINIQUE SONIC 2
See! Just the right size, both for the hand and the bag. It does take some getting used to for sensitive skin, so it is advised to start with a quick but thorough 30 second cleanse, and building up from there. The white bristles take care of the cheeks, while the green ones are designed to do the business on the pesky T-zone. The cap has many big holes in it, allowing the brush to dry whilst keeping it safe from getting smashed. FOAMING SONIC SOAP

This has been on-counter for an age; I was waiting to write until I got me paws on the Foaming Sonic Facial Soap. This is a a cream, not a liquid, but thicker than your usual cream cleanser. It is hard to squeeze out of the tube, and the first time I used it, I erred on the side of more rather than less. It was an err for sure: you need less than a pea-sized amount to get the best out of it — maybe half a pea, or two-thirds. It is rich, and applies easily all over a damp face, and then it foams like a boss. I feel like I could use anything with the brush and it would be grand, but I like this best.

I keep pronouncing it ‘Clinque Sonique’ to myself. #lulz

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€89 for the brush, €22 for the soap!

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I Used It All Up: Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant

Or did I? O.o

Reaching for anything whilst in the shower is an exercise in trust: I’m expecting the thing I’m reaching for to be usable, because replacing something that is not usable, when water is rushing down and I’m in the nip? Circumstances are not at their optimum.

So when I uncapped {decapped?} my container of Daily Microfoliant, and gently shook it, to dispense the minuscule amount that I require, and nothing happened? Gahhhhhh.

The thing is, the Dermalogica packaging is extremely high end, and the opaqueness and heft of the cylinder makes it pretty hard to tell when you’ve used it all up. I held it up to the light in the bath, and couldn’t see through it. I shook it and shook it, and had to give up, because it was clear that it was all gone.

Post-shower, I took the container to my desk, where I keep my cutting implements, fully prepared to slice off the top, because I simply did not believe that there wasn’t any left.

Well!

MICROFOLIANTI rapped the container against my desk — whappp! — and there’s loads left! And the backlit effect of the sun coming in the window over my desk negated the need to chop off the top to see what was in it.

Since one needs such a tiny bit every use, I’d say this is gonna last me another three months at least!

Desperate times, desperate measures…

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What is it about Daily Microfoliant, blades, and me?

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Start Spreading the Nudes: L’Oréal Paris BB Blush

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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