MAC Rodarte Collection - but it is art?

You're going to be reading a lot of posts on this matter this evening, and I just thought I'd add my tuppenorth into the matter.  The new MAC collaboration with Rodarte is due out (in the US) in September.  A collection of ethereal pale greys, pinks and taupes, it's meant to be inspired by the beauty of the countryside in Mexico, and specificially, items (according to Rodarte) were inspired by the female workers "floating to work" in the factories at dawn.

So far, not so unusual, but several of the items may have been insensitively named: Juarez, and Factory, are the nail polishes in the collection, and here's where the controversy begins, for, over the last several years, women in their dozens have been abducted on their way to work in the factories of Juarez, and they have been raped and murdered. Juarez is a notoriously impoverished factory town, and has been named one of the most dangerous places to live in the world as a result of these abductions, murders and rapes.  Very little is being done by the police to investigate the situation, as the women (aged between 12 and 20, in the main) are every poor, and it's not seen as worthwhile to try and bring their rapists and murderers to justice.

After an outcry in the US, MAC have released a statement announcing that they are aware that some people consider these names controversial and/or offensive, and, as a result, they are going to donate a "portion" of the proceeds of this collection to the people of Juarez.  Rodarte themselves have merely said that the names of the collection were inspired by their "travels", and have not apologised for the controversial element.

This strikes me as a shame, and a missed opportunity.  Why not release the entire collection as an awareness raising one, and donate the entire proceeds to the people of Juarez? MAC, of course, have a track record in this area, donating as they do, the entire proceeds of their Viva Glam releases every year to Aids charities.  I'd feel a lot less uneasy about MAC if they'd done this, I'll be honest.

Can you imagine if, in the UK for example, Illamasqua had released a collection with an item named "Soham" and then claimed it was simply because the town was so beautiful, and that was the only reason they chose the name?  It shows a massive amount of naivety on the behalf of the Rodarte team that they didn't consider the implications of naming parts of a collection this way, and ignoring any offence they may have caused too.

Please be aware that I am NOT calling for a boycott of this collection, and if you want to buy the items, you are, of course, welcome to (personally, some of the items I've seen, I think to be very pretty, in all actuality - it's certainly not a collection for our darker skinned sisters, judging from the promos though), but I'd like to see MAC do more to redress this situation, (what proportion of the proceeds are they willing to donate, for example) and I'd like to see more in the way of action from the Rodarte team to acknowledge the situation too.  Makeup shouldn't, if you ask me, be glorifying the rape and murder of women ...

What say you?  Legitimate outcry, or storm in a teacup?

Beauty Blog Link Love

Have you tried Ellis Faas yet? Rae's reviewing a few of these super-luxe, super-chic products, starting with Ellis' Milky Lips line!

Armani Blushing Fabric Second Skin Blushers have caught Louise's eye.

No bruises here! Check out Maggie's soft pink and purple face of the day over at The Polka-Dotted Apple.

When do Lego's and cosmetics have something in common? When Jouer comes to town, that's when. Watch Jeweled Thumb act 5 and play with a recent haul!

Butter LONDON has some fabulous new nail shades for Autumn 2010 - come check them out on Lipglossiping!

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed gets up close and personal with the Burberry Beauty line!

Hell Candy attends the Edward Bess UK launch and is blown away by the beauty of everything (the make up AND the man!)

Jolie Laide Girl gets silky soft with Kiehls Lightweight Body Lotion.

Sarah from IHeartCosmetics shows you how to get rid of spots,simply and easily.

Dry skinned and on a budget? Eyelining thinks Boots may have a bargain solution!

Looking for a perfect red nail polish for summer? Take a look at Illamasqua's Alarm at Makeup4All.

Lipgloss86 conquers all fears and grabs for the epilator in a bid for fuzz free legs.

The Lip Print discovers the sweetest nail shades for spring and has a chat with Orly's Creative Director about what's hot for nails!

There’s a new mascara in town! Check out Tsahi’s review on Revlon’s new Luscious Grow Mascara.

Madame B Fatale talks about a product that supports a great cause!


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Be sure to enter Phyrra's Summer Giveaway! Two winners, great prizes, open worldwide!

It's Pink Diva Beauty's birthday and you receive the presents! Have you entered?

Ever wanted to try LA's Prtty Peaushun? Now you can - Beautywoome is giving it away this month!

Reviva Labs wants to protect and prettify you with their Summer Skincare Giveaway on Prime Beauty.

The Pink Sith is celebrating her second Blog Anniversary with a Purple and Silver giveaway!

Dolce & Gabanna Makeup at Harrods

Dear Dolce & Gabanna,

Your new makeup range is gorgeous.  Your counter at Harrods is gorgeous.  The staff on your makeup counter at Harrods are beautiful and gorgeous.

And, if the beautiful staff at your gorgeous counter hadn't been too busy painting their nails, ignoring customers and sneering when asked for service at 2pm last Monday afternoon, I might even have spent more than the £70 I finally managed to give A N Other member of your staff. I'm very happy with the products, but the attitude of your bit... er ... sales assistant  is still bugging me.

I'm guessing the lovely girls who were busy being helpful on the Burberry counter had put some noses out of joint?  Such a shame, anyway.

Love and unimpressed kisses,

Lippie xx

Review - Alpha H facial

Yesterday's post was about a blissful spa, so full of relaxation that I genuinely think the treatments - though enjoyable - are entirely secondary to the spa itself.  Today's post is about a spa that's more or less the exact opposite, putting great treatments front and centre, but entirely fabulous nonetheless.

Fern Skin Clinic are the only spa in the country licensed to carry out Alpha H facials, and boy, these people take their facials seriously. I first learned about Alpha H products when they launched on QVC about a decade ago, I was suffering from adult onset acne at the time, and I'd heard that the products were amazing for "troubled" skin.  Sadly, at that time I couldn't afford to buy the products, and by the time I could, I'd solved my acne issues (mainly by swapping away from foaming cleansers, but that's a blog post for another time).  After that, I guess they just kind of dropped off my radar, after all, my skin was no longer "troubled".

Fast forward a few years to a chance meeting with the people behind the brand recently and I was put right,  Alpha H is actually suitable for everyone, and has great results for both troubled and "less troubled" skin.  I was offered a facial so I could out some of their claims to the test.  I trotted off for a facial with Jody Bloch at the aforementioned Fern Clinic, and put my face on the line.  Honestly, the things I do for you people ...

The clinic is clean, modern, a little stark, but no less relaxing a space for that, beds are comfortable, and the staff are warm, friendly, and very, very professional. After filling in an exceptionally thorough medical form, Jody chatted to me about my skin, my concerns and put together a personalised facial prescription for me.

Now, I have to say that these facials are very results-oriented, if you're expecting a couple of passes with a cleanser, and a relaxing massage, you're going to be very surprised disappointed. After two cleansings (one with a Clarisonic, more about which tomorrow), a pineapple and papaya enzyme mask was applied and my face was wrapped in clingfilm.  Yes, really.  Then, after a thorough massage with an age delay oil, it was onto extractions.  This HURT.  Seriously, imagine someone digging around the pores of your nose with a safety pin, that's what it feels like.  But, oh! The results! Then, a calming and soothing mask, a wonderful hand and arm massage, and my face was ready to face a moisturiser.

And what a face I ended up with!  Well, obviously it was the same face I went in with, but you know what I mean ... I'd expected red blotchiness and greasy splots of nastiness (yes, ******  facials, I'm looking at you, £150, and left looking like I'd spent 90 minutes rubbing myself with a block of nettle-studded lard), but what looked back at me was rosy glowing plumpness and smoothness.  I went without foundation for the best part of a week after (seriously unheard of for me), and spent several days marvelling at my temporary state of porelessness.

I'm seriously considering going back every week from now until the end of time. I've just bought a selection of Alpha H products as a result of the facial - I should make it clear that no one at the clinic pushed me to buy them at the time, something I always appreciate - and I'm looking forward to them arriving so I can use them for myself!

Products used:
Balancing Cleanser
Micro Cleanse
Pineapple & Papaya Enzyme Mask
Age Delay Oil
Calming & Soothing Mask
Balancing Moisturiser

I've heard good things about their moisturiser with factor 50+ sunscreen too, from no less than Lisa Eldridge, so I'm going to be tracking down a bottle of that very soon ... Alpha H products are available from Beauty Expert, QVC and HQ Hair

The Fine Print: Get Lippie was invited to Fern Skin Clinic as a guest of Alpha H.  That all sounds so fancy, dunnit?  I have since, however, bought my not inconsiderable bodyweight in products.  They're *that* good.  Full review as and when I get around to it.

Review - The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary Spa, in Covent Garden, was one of my very favourite places, and had been ever since my first visit about five years ago. I loved that it's woman-friendly without being all fluffy and pink, but most of all I loved it because it's a spectacular oasis of peace and calm right here in central London.

I used to go two or three times a year, but on my last visit there was a bit of a customer service issue (which was never really resolved by the spa either at the time, or in response to emails after my visit), so I hadn't been for a while, but when I was invited to an event recently to celebrate their re-launch of their skincare range, and to announce the opening  of three new branches (in Cambridge, in Richmond and in Bristol), I thought I'd pop along to see how things were.

During the event, I was struck by the obvious passion for the place from the staff, and was impressed by the entire operation's devotion to making the spa a real sanctuary for their visitors, and I have to admit that I was very impressed by this.  I was also happy to hear that they've changed a lot of their skincare - I have to be honest, I was never much of a fan of it, and always found Sanctuary facials to be a little disappointing in the past - and I'm delighted that they're expanding their offerings into things like eyebrow shaping, and a more medi-spa offering in all their sites.

 In fact, I was so impressed with everything they're planning to do that I went back - at my own expense! - last Friday for a day of R'n'R.  As I'm still recovering from surgery, a lot of the facilities were inadvisable (the pools, the steam rooms, massages, etc), but the setting itself is so wonderfully relaxing that I still managed to have a great day.  I started with a light breakfast in the koi carp lounge, then went to the third floor - the Sanctuary has 42 treatment rooms, an amazing number I still find hard to believe - for an express manicure and a perfectly polished pedicure. The manicure didn't quite last 24 hours, though the colour (Merlot from Jessica) is beautiful, I always go for a deep, dark nail colour when someone else is doing it, it's so satisfying seeing how neat a manicure can be! The pedicure, however, was amazing.  My therapist, Hollie, was very sympathetic to my ... er... unusual foot situation, but the callus gel they use is AMAZING, and frankly, my feet have never been so soft.  I bought a supply of this amazing elixir so I can replicate the results at home from now on!
I then had a lingering lunch in the restaurant - the food at The Sanctuary is much better than you might expect from a spa, you can eat healthily if you wish, or not if you don't!  Generally, I choose not to, and had an excellent steak and chips for lunch, followed by an iced coffee in place of desert.  Then to round off my day, I had a little post-lunch nap on one of the beds in the koi carp lounge.  I didn't miss not being able to use the pools or the steam rooms, or anything of that nature and I had a wonderfully indulgent and relaxing day, I'm glad I decided to go back.

As for the revamped, repackaged and relaunched skincare, well, for me, the jury is still out. I have some bits and pieces to try - I have high hopes for the facial oil - and I'll bring you my thoughts as and when I get around to trying everything properly.  But, one thing they've launched that I think is a great idea is the "Facial in a Box" kit, which has everything you need to give yourself a salon-quality facial at home.  In two varieties, Brightening and Youth Boosting, the kits cost £16 each, and are a great way to acquaint yourself with The Sanctuary products.

Now, this post has been pretty London-centric, and I'm aware that many of my readers won't get the chance to travel to London to try out their facilities (though if you do get the chance, leap at it, you won't regret it!), so I bought one of the Facials in a Box to give away to one of you guys.  Just leave a comment on this blog post saying what would be your ideal spa treatment, and I'll draw a winner entirely at random at the end of the week.  The prize is a Brightening Facial in a Box, and I will ship internationally.  You don't need to be a follower to enter this competition, but you do need to leave a valid email address in your entry comment.  Good luck!

Organic Weekend - A'kin Kaolin Clay & Activated Carbon Express Purifying Facial Masque

I've talked about A'kin and their particular brand of organic, sulphate-, petrochemical-, paraben-, silicone- and mineral oil-free products before, they're a brand I always have a few bits and pieces from around the house - I particularly like their hair conditioners, and I'll be reviewing them for you soon - but I wanted to mention this one today as it's something I've found really useful this week.

Post-surgery, my skin hasn't been that great, a combination of feeling more than a bit lacklustre and, well, let's face it, me just generally having other priorities on my  mind than keeping myself catwalk-ready!  I did, however, give myself a little home-facial this morning, with this masque as the star of the show, and have to admit that I've been pretty impressed with the results.

A pale duck-egg blue emulsion, the masque smells gloriously fresh - unusual for a clay-based product in my experience - and dries to a powdery finish in the ten minutes you keep it on your skin for.  I found that even the thick layer I'd applied had absorbed somewhat into my skin, which says a lot for how greasy and gross my face had become over the last week or two!  It tingled slightly, which I'm putting down to the "activated carbon"-based ingredients, but when it was washed off, my skin was left feeling tingly-fresh, and a whole lot softer than it had been previously.  Finished with a layer of facial oil (about which more next week), my skin is feeling a lot better than it was earlier, I can see this mask becoming a regular treat. Mainly because it lets me pull faces like this:

Don't try this at home, folks!

A'kin Kaolin Clay and Activated Carbon Express Purifying Facial Masque costs £12.99, and is available from Look Fantastic and LoveLula.  It's suitable for normal, oily and combination skin.

The Fine Print I bought mine from Wholefoods several months ago, but it's come in really handy recently.  Links provided are for informational purposes only, and are NOT affiliate links.  I don't believe in affliiate links.  Or body lotion.  Or toner. Or the Easter Bunny.

Guest Post: Two Face Retractible Kabuki Brush

Today's guest poster is Eyelining, she has a great blog which I subscribe to, and you can find it at: Eyelining and Other Makeup Obsessions

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The lovely Louise kindly agreed to let me loose with a guest post. She even sent a lippie for me to review which Royal Mail promptly stole and are now denying all knowledge of. Super.

Nonetheless we will soldier on with this review of a brush which has become my new summer staple. Now I know when you think of summer staples you think of bronzers and sunscreen but for me and my oily skin summer means blotting papers and powder. Lots and lots of powder. I apply it every couple of hours for fear of BP setting up a rig on my nose.

This little kabuki is a lifesaver. Because it retracts and has a lid it is very handbag friendly. The inside of my makeup bag no longer looks like somebody has been baking in it! The brush itself is incredibly dense which means that you do get a rather heavy application so it is best to use a light hand. Too Faced famously use ‘teddy bear hair’, synthetic bristles, so it is animal friendly too. It is supremely soft and thus far hasn’t shed a single hair.

My one little niggle is than it is quite awkward to wash. It’s really easy for you to get water up inside the handle and if you do it takes at least a couple of days to dry properly. But its super cute packaging and convenience win out, I love this thing! Mine was bought from Asos for £21 and yes, I would repurchase x

Guest Post: Go to bed in England and wake up in Jamaica

Today's guest post is from Liloo who blogs at Le Petit Jardin de Liloo but some of you might know her better as that Twitter powerhouse @tsunimee. She's very shy, so please be gentle ...


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My overnight failproof fake tan recipe for dummies 

I will simply never achieve a nice tan from natural exposure to the sun. I had to come to terms with that. Unless I spend 2 full solid weeks in the sun, I will never achieve a decent tan. I don’t go red at the first sign of sun, and my skin is quite used to the sun (I spent all my life in Mauritius) but it will take me for ever to develop a hint of colour. So I’ve always been fascinated by the world of fake tanning at home, and achieving a tan, artificially using a bottle for example. Problem is that for years, I was scared to try in case of turning yellow, orange, zebra and too brown. With the arrival of ‘gradual tanning products’ on the market, it was finally time I took the plunge. Months and months of hilarious and disastrous fake tan experiences, I think I’ve finally ‘cracked it now’ and I wanted to share with you my recipe.

I have been experimenting with all sorts of products, from traditional self tan products to gradual ones (self tan product mixed with moisturiser for a lighter tan), different textures (tan towels, cream, mousse, gel) with all unsatisfactory results until I realised where I had been going wrong all along:

It was more how I was applying the fake tan product more than what particular product I was using. My number one fake tan phobia was the dreaded orange hands and streaks everywhere: I was rushing through the application. I was forgetting where I was applying it. I didn’t leave enough time for it to dry to put my clothes back on (for how many hours are you supposed to stand there waiting for it to dry before you put your clothes back on anyway?) and I didn’t know for how long I was supposed to leave the product to take effect. I was aiming for a healthy glow bronze goddess. Instead I was a stressed out, streaky mess.

Until I decided to apply my fake tan OVERNIGHT, take all the time in the world to do it and it solved all my problems, and wake up like I had spent the night in Jamaica, all rested, like I wanted to be. For years now, I have been using a high street /drugstore, the Sublime Bronze, Tinted gel, for face and body all in one.

This product is just ideal for me. The smell is typical of fake tan products and you will stink, and it will do your head in after a while. But it has been giving me such a NATURAL result every single time, with no streaks, this natural “been spending a few hours in the sun’ glow without looking orange or fake” that it’s totally worth it. It is very easy to apply: because it is tinted & shimmering you can see where you have actually applied it. How do I apply it? How do I go round the overpowering smell on my body? How do I avoid streaks on my skin and on clothes? orange hands? Hear hear.

Ingredients: what you’ll need

- One night to yourself, with no boyfriend or guest staying in your bed

- 1 pair of skin tight medical gloves from eBay, (buy a whole box of them, you’ll use them for your hair colouring as well: totally worth the investment. The tighter, snuggier, the better! The aim is not to feel the glove at all. When I run out of medical ones, I go get some at Sainsbury’s (in the cleaning section, local supermarket)

- 2 Exfoliating products, one for the face, and one for the rest of the body.

- 2 Moisturisers, one for the face, and one for the rest of the body

- Fake tan product itself: L’oréal Dermo Expertise, Sublime Bronze, Self Tanning Gel, Tinted and Shimmering, for Face and Body

- Old bed linen: old pillow case, and sheets to sleep in

- Old rubbish light bath robe, (in case someone rings your bell once you’re in the middle of your tan operation lol)

- Hair Dryer

- (Optional) Moisturising Face Mask (Optional)

What you do:

1. Prepare your skin: In the evening, before going to bed, spend time in the shower/bath exfoliating face and body, spending extra time on the driest areas of your body: elbows, ankles, knees, hand knuckles, feet. If you have got a moustache (don’t tell me I am the only one with facial hair), make sure to lighten it beforehand or to have epilated it a few hours beforehand because the fake tan will make everything darker: skin and facial hair. Pat dry your skin, and spend lots of time moisturising face and body, paying extra attention again to the driest parts of body. Wait a few minutes till the moisturiser has been totally absorbed. While you wait, make sure hair is up and out of the way, and just keep your underwear to a minimum: a pair of knickers only. No pyjamas or nightie. If you’re cold at this stage, because of the moisturiser, blast a little hair dryer on you for a few seconds.

2. Apply fake tan: In front of mirror, put on your medical skin tights gloves on both hands, put a little bit of product in your protected hands and start applying on centre of face, then to the edges, blending in your skin as you would with a moisturiser. There’s no need to apply too much. Blend, blend, blend. Take all the time you need. Apply lightly to start with, you can always apply some more the following day. Make sure not to forget to put a little bit of product around the eyes and on the ears. You can apply a more liberally on the rest of the body.

When it comes to the driest parts of your body, (ankles, knees, elbows) mix a tiny weeny bit of body moisturiser with fake tan product in protected palm of your hand and apply mixture. The last part of the body should be your hands: partially remove gloves and apply very lightly on wrist and front of the hands. Rub the fronts of your hands together. Wash back of hands even though you feel you have not applied anything there.

3. Getting ready for bed, and letting the fake tan to do its magic while you sleep. Cover your existing bed linen with old bed linen, including the sheet you sleep on, the sheet covering you, and the pillow case you will have you face on. Again with just very minimal underwear on, wait 10 minutes or so till product has dried a little bit. If you still feel a bit sticky, before going to bed, blow hair dryer on yourself for a few seconds.

4. Wake up gorgeous and sunkissed. Wash face and body gently (no scrubbing) but thoroughly. Gently pat dry your skin (no frantic rubbing) and moisturise more than you would normally do. Fake tan tend to dry up your skin a lot! The advantage is that you have any little spots or little blemishes you’ll see them drying up faster as well. woohoo!

- If you feel the urge to scratch nose or whatever while fake tan is on, don’t do it with your fingers, or your fingernails could get stained in the process, use the old sheet you sleep to protect fingernails and back of the hands.
- Any stains left on bed linen using that product will still disappear through normal cycle machine washing but still make sure to use old bed linen anyway.
- On me, the tan will last about 3 to 4 days. What I do to top it up is to use my favourite gradual tanner, until the next time I exfoliate again and ready to do the whole operation again.

- Sounds obvious but avoid any exfoliating products (products containing AHAs also for example) for the next 4 days or so
- Finally, fake tan will have the tendency to dry your skin a lot, and you’ll probably find you need double the amount of moisturiser than usual.

Fancy waking up in Jamaica with me tomorrow? Try it and let me know how you get on. Any products or methods/recipes/tips & tricks /fake tan mishaps you would like to share? I’d love to hear! Thank you for reading and thank you Louise for the opportunity :) x

Guest Post: Esthederm Suncare

If you don't read MakeupbyKaty, you should!  She's a font of some amazing knowledge, and she's a lovely person to boot, I love her, and you will too.  Today, she's talking some sense about suncare:

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Hi!,

I recently came back from 10 days in sunny, glorious Greece. Great food, white beaches, hot sun. Perfect. Except that me and the sun, well let’s just say that it’s a one way love affair.

I’m happy to admit that I enjoy the sun, that I embrace the sun, that, shock horror, I like to tan. It is an area that is controversial to say the least! As the sister of someone with Albinism and the daughter of a Dermatological secretary, I am educated in all matters of sun-damage. So when I do get the chance to see some sun, I take every precaution to protect as well as get some colour to my skin.

I like to think about my tan levels in terms of Biscuits. I generally never get darker than a Digestive…and that’s fine with me… I don’t hanker after russet brown skin. I just don’t have enough melanin. And I’m ok with that.

My husband on the other hand, with his half Greek genes, goes roughly the colour of a Bourbon biscuit within the first week. And that’s with no trying. I think that somewhere along his genealogy, he has an ancestor that was a mahogany table.


 All jokes aside, I do have to be very careful as I am prone to easily burning and the pink wafer is neither delicious, nor an attractive look. 

So how do we get a balance between over exposure and Vitamin D deprivation?

I am a huge believer in the good that the sun can give us. I treat the sun with respect, knowing that it’s just as likely to harm me as to help me.

I first discovered Esthederm Sun care when working as a visitor in Space NK a year or so ago. There was a huge buzz about it with the staff, and that for me is a very telling sign. Space NK staff are usually very skincare/sun care savvy and if they’re excited and purchasing, my ears tend to prick up.

My usual holiday sun care purchases are an SPF30 for the first few days, an SPF15 for the rest of the holiday. I have also used Tan stimulating creams and also tablets (with disastrous effects, I may blog about it another time). So when a friend suggested I could take just the one and it would suffice, I took the leap.

At £38, it’s not cheap. And I’m also going to have to simplify the technology to explain why. 

The one I opted for was the Adaptasun Body Milk for Extreme Sun. This is how the levels work at Esthederm. You choose your sun care by your skin sensitivity levels and the sun level of your holiday destination. Hence, I went for Extreme. The Website states the Result as ‘Optimal Tanning quickly and safely’

It also ‘Ensures a suitable protection under extreme exposure (glaciers, tropics, prolonged exposure to the sea or high altitude).

Here is what Esthederm have to say about their ‘different’ approach to the Sun.

•  Overexposure to the sun is dangerous, as is its absence
Sun is essential to life because of its heat, its light and its natural anti-depressant action.

•  Tanning does not age skin
Photo Cellular skincare protects cells from the attacks of free radicals.

•  Tanning is the best protection
On the skin’s surface, melanin pigments absorb some of the solar radiation.

•  Adaptation to sun rather than over protection
Completely depriving the skin of sun exposure makes it lose its ability to adapt to the sun, which is tanning.


•  Inequality of the skin’s behaviour under the sun is not inevitable
With Photo Cellular Skincare, fair skin tans; intolerant skins bear the sun.


•  SPF is not a reliable or sufficient indicator
SPF measures the risk of sunburn but not the risk of ageing, nor of photo-sensitisation.

My take on this? Instead of totally blocking my skin from the sun, I’m using the positive aspects of it to help my skin to adapt. I have no burnt skin. I have no peeling. I feel great. I’m tanned, safely.  Of course, we still have to take responsibility and be wise in our sun exposure. I don’t lay out in the sun for hours at a time. I religiously re-apply every two hours, sometimes more often. I apply it liberally, DO NOT SKIMP!! After swimming I re-apply, as I do before swimming, on my shoulders and forehead.

I tend to skulk off either under an umbrella or to a bar between the hours of 12 and 3 and I never fall asleep with bits sticking out of the shade, (anymore….).

I cannot really do the technology justice, I’m not a scientist, but I will tell you this. I will never go in the sun again without my Esthederm.

Here is a gratuitous picture of me on holiday. 

Yours, deep in post holiday blues

Guest Post: Cosmetic sell by dates and other nonsense.

Today's post comes from the lovely Modesty Brown, I adore her blog, and she deserves to be so much better known, so please, go show her some love!

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‘We wouldn’t hesitate to chuck out mouldy or bacteria-ridden food – and the same standards should apply to lotions we put on our skin.’

A few months ago I came across this article in the Mail Online. I have come across recommendations for discarding cosmetics before, but this particular article for some reason really got on my nerves. I suspect it was the spectacularly short shelf-lives prescribed for many of the products mentioned. As well as the rather alarmist slant (what was I expecting, it is the Daily Mail).

This is probably a good point to explain that I am actually a science nerd, specifically a skin microbiologist. I know quite a lot about the bacteria that live on your face (and have had a reasonable amount of experience with pharmaceutical companies). So, naturally I wanted to know if these recommendations were based on sound research or just a load of old flannel!

The bacteria living on your skin are there all the time, they don’t cause infection on your skin ordinarily so I don’t entirely understand the implication that bacteria will ‘breed’ in your make up and cause horrible infections like Impetigo. Unless of course you have been sharing your make up with someone that has open blisters? No, I thought not. Also, I’m not convinced that powdered make up like blusher and eyeshadows would make particularly good growth environments for bacteria.

With items such as mascara or lipgloss I agree there are good reasons to be cautious. Both mascara and lipgloss provide a good growth environment, it is moist, dark and pushing the wand/applicator back in drives air in to the tube.  Though having said all that make up does contain preservatives to prevent growth. With my background I was rather intrigued about what research had been done to investigate microbial contamination of make up. I also wondered if there was anything out there to explain the time frames for expiry.

Interestingly, I managed to find some research into contamination of mascara. In the study women were given a mascara to use daily for 3 months. Two different brands were tested, Avon and Maybelline. At the end of the study the mascara wands were tested for microbial contamination. Although their conclusions were that mascara should be discarded after 3 months, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with this based on their results.

 
Growth was discovered in 12% of the mascara’s but the numbers of bacteria were very small. I won’t bore you with exact figures but from personal experience I can assure you the level of contamination was very low. Also, of the bacteria they isolated, none of the species would cause an eye infection unless there was a scratch on the eye. They managed to grow bacteria from the unused control tubes as well, so some of the bacteria were already in the mascara tubes. Which suggests that contamination occurred during manufacture. Although the research made for interesting reading, for me, it wasn’t a terribly convincing argument that mascara is easily contaminated or poses a serious health risk. I was however horrified by this particular gem from the paper ‘Some will add water, and even saliva, to make their makeup last longer’. Who on Earth spits in their mascara to make it last longer?

I failed to find any research testing other kinds of make up for bacterial contamination. I found lots of articles stating eyeshadows, lipsticks etc., can become contaminated but no research or statistics to back it up. This leads me to think that these sorts of tests are being done by the cosmetics companies and I know they are rarely able (or willing) to share their results! I know that it is also the companies that set their own Period After Opening (PAO) dates, so of course the cynic in me thinks that the dates might well be a bit of a marketing ploy.

Now, I’m not going to advocate you ignore all the guidelines but I would like to suggest that you follow your own instincts before throwing away the contents of your make up bag! As long as you are not sharing your make up, keep your brushes clean and store your cosmetics in a cool, dry place, you can keep it safely for much longer than the expiry guides suggest. My other key advice is to trust your nose! If a product changes texture or starts to smell, bin it. Don’t ask me to describe the smell folks, just believe me when I say you’ll know!