Jo Malone Mimosa and Cardamom

As a result of losing my sense of smell last year, I'm attracted to smells that stimulate my trigeminal nerve as well as my olfactory one, and, from a perfume point of view, that means spicy fragrances are my friend, so when I heard about Jo Malone London Mimosa and Cardamom fragrance being launched recently, I was intrigued.

The last fragrance I really took to from Jo Malone London was the fruity-herbal Blackberry and Bay - all their releases from 2014 were released when I couldn't smell, so are a bit "lost" to me right now, but I fully intend to at least properly smell Wood Sage and Sea Salt if it kills me this year.  Mimosa and Cardamom is a slight departure for the brand, being slightly less lady-like and inoffensive than some of their releases in recent years - the "English Desserts" collection in particular turned my stomach somewhat I'm afraid, and it's all the better for it.

It starts with a puff of musky saffron and spicy cardamom before the tickly scent of mimosa kicks in.  Later, once the spices have dissipated slightly, it's a milky tonka and sandalwood, with just a hint of flowers in the background.  It makes an excellent house-scent, being warm, welcoming, and ... strangely lovable, without being over-sweet.

As a layering fragrance, it works astonishingly well over the Cologne Intense in Tuberose Angelica from the brand too, the clean bubblegum scent of Tuberose adds a depth and narcotic sexiness to the spicy green cardamom of Mimosa & Cardamom.

So nice to see - and smell! - a new direction from Jo Malone London.  As we turn into autumn, this is a perfectly-timed release from the brand, too, the spicy warmth makes a great addition to knitwear and tweedy jackets.  The candle version in particular is great for lighting on cooler autumn evenings.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

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Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil

Has the hype died down yet?  Is it safe to emerge?  I'd been waiting for Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil to launch ever since I heard a little snippet on the grapevine about it last January.    It took AGES to get onto market, then by the time I got my bottle, the entire world and his wife had theirs, and they had blogged about it, so I hid my review away until such time as it would be less buried in the avalanche of coverage.

I've been a massive fan of the Sunday Riley oils (and range in general) for a long time now,  and I'm well aware of how long they last (a year's worth of usage in each bottle, easily) so, whilst throwing down that initial £85 was hard - and it was - I knew it was an investment I wouldn't easily regret.  Luna Sleeping Night Oil is a retinol product, and my skin being of a sensitive disposition, retinols have been something I've routinely avoided over the years as every excursion into them has led to redness, flakiness and peeling.  Sexy.

Retinols are derivatives of Vitamin A, which encourage exfoliation and can lead to the reduction of fine lines, pores and wrinkles, which has to be a good thing.  It encourages cell-turnover, which is why it can occasionally lead to irritation on more sensitive skins.

In Luna, the active retinol is buffered by soothing blue tansy oil (though I notice that there is artificial colouring in the formula of the oil, so the deep cerulean blue of the product isn't entirely down to flower essences), alongside other neutral carrier oils, so even my prone to redness skin can handle it.  Blue Tansy is also a major ingredient in s favourite balm of mine, May Lindstrom's The Blue Cocoon Beauty Balm Concentrate, and it's a great ingredient for stressed-out skin.

To use, you apply three-to-four drops of oil to your face (a drop or two extra will cover your neck and décolletage, too) after cleansing at night, then follow it up with the moisturiser of your choice (I double this up with the Blue Cocoon every time) and wake up to smoother, younger, plumper, fresher-looking skin.  Seeing my skin in the bathroom mirror after a night using Luna is always a treat (shame it's still the same face, but you can't have everything), things look fresher.  More even, less red.  I haven't noticed any particular difference to my wrinkles - I'm, ironically, not very wrinkly considering my status as an OLD LADY of blogging, but there you go - but my skin does, very much, look better after using it.

I've started off using Luna Sleeping Night Oil twice a week, and I'll probably end up using it every other night at some point - I have a feeling using it more often will lead to irritation.  So far, three months or so in, I've yet to see any dryness, redness or peeling as a result of use, and I'm very happy about that.

So, was it worth the hype?  In my eyes, yes. Is it worth the £85 price per bottle?  It's undoubtedly expensive, but for visible results whenever you use it, it's hard to beat.


The Fine Print: Purchase


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Joan Collins Timeless Beauty Launch

I don't write about events (rather than products) very often, but I was invited to Claridges last week to have cocktails with Joan Collins (JOAN COLLINS!) and, as it was an offer I very much couldn't turn down, I didn't.  I even took a day off work to attend (okay, it was mostly to get my roots done by Jack Howard, but lets not let facts get in the way of events, right?), and a great time was had by all.

I've had a few bits from the Joan Collins range for a while now, and I like them very much.  The quality is a bit variable (I'm not a huge fan of the powder-based products, for instance, but that's just me), but the lipsticks, and fragrances are really very good indeed.  Joan herself was wearing the entire range at the launch, and she looks damn good in it:

By the way, Joan Collins is EIGHTY TWO.  That I should look half that good at EIGHTY TWO.  Honestly.  Yes, she's wearing a lot of makeup, but she's Joan Collins!  If she'd turned up in a no-makeup look in jeans and crisp white shirt, we'd have all been bitterly disappointed, let's face it. A floor-length black gown, full length opera gloves and a jewelled belt were perfect for the occasion.

More pictures of the event after the jump:

Lipsticks and Perfumes of the Week 13.09.15 #LipsNSpritz

I'm mainly to be found over on Instagram at the moment, I love it.  Part of it is having a new camera, of course, but I've enjoyed finding different ways to show off products when I don't have enough time for writing during the week.  I've started a new hashtag series "#LipsNSpritz" (named by the glorious Katie from Lady From A Tramp) to show off my lipstick and perfume combinations every day.  Would love it if other people joined in, btw, but this is what I really enjoyed wearing last week:

Monday was Joan Collins Timeless Beauty I Am Woman (which I wrote about in full last Monday), and I'm not even slightly apologising for mentioning again here - nor for when it pops up again, either - as it's lovely.  Really, really lovely.  I paired it with Zelens Lip Glaze in Rouge, which is my favourite go-to red for when I don't really want to think about wearing "proper" red lipstick.  Easy to wear, and feels lovely on the lips, Zelens Lip Glazes are ace, I just wish I could wear more than two of the five shades - the corals and pinks all have too much white in the base for me.

Tuesday was Jo Loves Pomelo, which I love an unhealthy amount.  A light and zesty grapefruit-y citrus with just a hint of vetiver giving it a slightly grassy edge, it's a perfect scent for when you want something bright, but not too girly.  It's a clean "grapefruit" (Pomelo is, essentially a green grapefruit), lacking the sulfurous aspect many other grapefruits can have.  I paired it with Joan Collins Timeless Beauty lipstick in Helena (pay attention, you may notice a theme this week) which was a lovely rich, statement red.

On Wednesday, well, let's see if you can figure what I was up to on Wednesday just based on my fragrance and perfume choices, shall we?

Skincare of the Week 13.09.15

Last Sunday was a very stressful day, so I ended up giving myself a mini-facial in the middle of the day.  Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel was soothing with its rosy softness, then I slathered myself in Aveda Intensive Hydrating Mask for the rest of the day.  I love this stuff, oil-free, it is instantly cooling and soothing (I keep mine in the fridge.  That reminds me, I need a bigger fridge), and leaves you plumped up and less red and angry-looking.  As I'm approximately 2/3rds sheer grumpiness, this is a minor miracle, I'm sure you'll agree.

After a stressful Sunday, I needed a treat come Monday morning, and when that happens, I reach for the Zelens:

I've been trialling the Intense Defence serum for a few weeks now, there's a full review of it upcoming, but I like this.  I like this a lot.  If you have tendencies towards sensitivity and redness (as I do), you'll probably like it too.  I paired it with the Z Recovery Intensive Repair Balm, as that is probably my second-favourite Zelens product of all time.  A non-greasy balm (actually more of a rich gel-texture) this nourishes and just makes skin look fab after using.  Any time my skin is a bit stressed, or dried out, or over-stimulated with active products, I reach for this, and my skin is usually much the better for it after one application.

A tiny catastrophe on Tuesday when I couldn't find either my Bioderma Crealine spray OR my beloved La Roche Posay Serozinc, so I had to dig out my Caudalie Grape Water.  I actually like the grape water, but the other two are much better for my rosy-redness, so it wasn't really the end of the world.  I added in the Ren Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Water, as, for some reason, I woke up with mascara smudges.  My waterproof eyemakeup remover has gone walkabout, and I paid the price on Tuesday.

More about this routine (and why it was so special) after the break ...

Burberry Kisses Gloss in 77 Tangerine and 97 Plum Pink

There's no joy much more fun than a brand new lipgloss, and, as I love a bit of Burberry, and a bit of lipgloss,  so when a couple of them were included in a recent delivery from the now-iconic British brand, I was happy indeed.

The perspex tubes that make the glosses look like test tubes, and the lovely pewter packaging all add up to a lovely package, and these two new shades, Tangerine (No.77) and Plum Pink (No.97) are both lovely too.  Tangerine is a hot orange that looks almost neon in the tube.  I like the shade a lot, as many orange lip colours have a lot of white in them, which make them difficult to wear, but this is a relatively clear shade, and one that's easier to wear than you might expect from the tube.  Plum Pink is a lovely deep pink with a hint of blue.

As you can see, Tangerine on the left there is quite sheer, and subtle on swatching, whereas Plum Pink, on the right is slightly more opaque.

On my lips, Tangerine is very subtle indeed, which surprised me as it is so vibrant in the tube, but I actually like that it's so sheer as it makes it very easy to wear. It's a nice, glossy formula that slicks on easily, unscented and unsticky.

Here you can see Plum Pink has more pigment, and is again a more wearable shade on the lips than you might expect from the tube, lending a berry-ish brightness to my lips, which I really like, and is ideal for the more autumnish weather we've been having this ... year.

More from the Burberry Autumn 2015 collection later this week, but you can find the Burberry Kisses Gloss in store now, and they cost £21 each.

The Fine Print: PR Sample


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Joan Collins - I Am Woman Review

Early last year, I was obsessed (and I do mean completely obsessed) with this perfume to the extent that I carried both the eau de parfum and the fragrant essence around with me, and forced all of my perfume pals to smell it at every available opportunity.  I was so happy and delighted to have found a beautiful, and clever, celebrity fragrance at last.  Everyone loved it (and I know a few people bought it as a result), but then my sense of smell disappeared for a while, and sadly, so did my ability to write, or even think about fragrance properly.

But now my sense of mell is coming back, and there's no better way to celebrate than with a spritz (or three) of Joan Collins I Am Woman, and finally getting to write about it.  I Am Woman opens bright and slightly citrussy, with subtle bergamot giving it a sense of sparkle and fizz which quickly gives way to a fuzzy and warm peach-effect.  The peaches in I Am Woman smell like they have been soaked in an expensive wooden brandy barrel for some time, giving them a slightly boozy tone, and then dusted with a little baby powder, which lends them a little softness, taking the edge off the booze.  Once you get past the peaches, there's a rich and dark wooded base, which  is smooth and silky with sandalwood, and there's just enough cedar in there to stop the whole thing being too sweet and ladylike.

Whilst the perfume is rich (not to mention replete with powder, booze and fruit, and bearing in mind that it bears the name of Joan Collins), you'd almost expect this to be a HUGE fragrance, but it's actually surprisingly subtle, and the sillage stays close to the wearer - it definitely does not enter the room before you do.  It's sophisticated, and the first time I smelled it, I knew, this is exactly what a perfume from Joan Collins should smell like.  That what is essentially, boozy peaches and baby powder, should smell so sophisticated is the real wonder.

I love the peripherals from the range, too, which is unsual for me.  The body lotion is very subtly scented and a very light formulation which makes a great layering base for fragrance - any fragrance - as it is very subtle, and moisturised skin holds fragrance better than drier skin, plus this is a good moisturiser too.  The darker bottle in the top picture is actually a "Fragrant Essence", which has a slightly deeper scent than the spray eau de parfum as the oily formula doesn't hold onto the citrus notes as well, but it can be used to scent baths, linen sprays, and my own personal favourite; diffused in a scent diffuser.  A brilliantly simple idea!

You can find Joan Collins I Am Woman at Urban Retreat in Harrods, on QVC (where you'll also find the rest of her makeup range too), and online at Joan Collins Beauty.  I Am Woman scented products begin at £12 for the fragrant essence (bargain!) and go up to £50 for the full-size fragrance.

The Fine Print: PR Sample


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