Winter Skin Preparation

I had a request from a reader to write about how to prepare skin for the coming winter months.

I'll be honest, I don't change my skincare routine much unless the condition of my skin changes drastically, with that in mind, I'll tell you what my current routine is, and what I'm planning to change when the weather gets colder.

I have combination skin, which - depending on the weather - can be more oily or more dry in patches, so I adjust my routine accordingly.

Turns out, I have around eight cleansers on the go at the moment, but the two I alternate between most at the moment are Alpha H Balancing Cleanser, and Nude Cleansing Oil - I may toy with with others, but these are the two I keep coming back to.  The Alpha H is a cream cleanser, which I enjoy using to "melt" off my makeup at the end of the day, and I like using a cleansing oil in the mornings.  I'm playing with a couple of other cleansers too these days, and I'll talk to you more about those soon.

The cold weather can make even the best looked-after skin a bit drier and a little flaky looking, so you may find you need to exfoliate a little more often. For exfoliation, I'm still in love with my Clarisonic (I cannot tell a lie) but I found in the past that the hot-cloth cleansing method with a muslin cloth used daily was more than adequate for my exfoliation needs.  Occasionally (once a week or so) I'd use a little Origins Modern Friction, which I enjoy using for the warming sensation, and removing the gluey mass at the end is very satisfying, but then, I am a little odd.

You may want to switch to a (slightly) heavier moisturiser at this time of year,  I'm currently trialling a few moisturisers at the moment - amongst them ROC, Estee Lauder and a couple of others - but, I admit I'm still waiting to find "the one" that's going to suit me all winter long.

Whilst I'm waiting for the magic moisturiser to make itself known to me, I'll be upping my hydration levels via the use of a few judiciously chosen emollient masks.  Sisley Flower Mask is one I adore, though it's expensive, and I'm also planning to make use of Liz Earle's Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask over the coming months too.

But, the one thing I absolutely, positively can't live without at this time is - of course - lipbalm.  For an overnight treatment, I simply adore Sisley's lipbalm (no, Sisley haven't sponsored this post, I just love them!) I just slip a little over my lips at night, and generally all is free of chapping the following day.  For during the day though, I love my little tins of Badger Balm, they're organic, not full of mineral oils, and taste divine, even if they have discontinued my beloved Chai Rose flavour!

What are your winter skincare tips?

Dear Mac...

Formidable nail polish is beautiful, but I'd like more than 36 hours wear, please:

Tresemme Naturals

I tell you, it's very annoying when - before you've even tried a product - you've already written half of the review in your head, then when you do go on to try it, you realise that you're going to have to eat half  the words you haven't yet actually written.

<sigh>

So ... I was introduced to Tresemme Naturals recently, the latest offering from the Tresemme range of shampoos, conditioners and styling products.  Now, I've always been a bit sniffy when it comes to high street shampoo, I can't deny it. Ever since I started colouring my hair (a very, very long time ago) I've always  used salon brands, and paid the most I can afford for my haircare because, after all, your hair is the accessory you wear every day, so - to me, at least - it's worth investing in. However, this range from Tresemme, promises no parabens, is silicone-free, is a third lower in sulfates than it's original range and contains organic extracts of orange, aloe vera and avocado.

Now, I do find the name "Naturals" a little misleading (which is where my "original review" started, to be honest), as the only natural things in the shampoo are the organic extracts - and they're there in very small amounts - and basically, all they've done to the formula is tweaked it slightly to make it sound trendy, and "natural", plus they can put organic on the label too.  Nothing makes me madder than this kind of green-washing, particularly when it's a cover for putting out a less effective product, as I've seen happen in some companies.

However...

(and this is where I hang my head in shame and admit to having been a bit closed-minded),

The shampoo and conditioner in question are actually a bit marvellous.  They smell good, a little citrussy, the shampoo lathers well, and you can barely tell the conditioner is silicone-free at all, as there's a good amount of slip.  I found that both used together leave my hair clean, soft and super-shiny.  Colour me very impressed, and less prepared to sneer next time.  Price is quite reasonable too, you get nearly a litre of each for less than five pounds.

If the ingredients actually were natural, and they were SLS-free (instead of "lower sulfate" than the original version) then I'd be happier, but at this price point, they're actually pretty difficult to beat.

The Worst Makeover I Ever Had

Was at the Estee Lauder counter in the Liverpool branch of Boots a few years ago.

I only really have myself to blame, I'd ignored a few of my own hard and fast rules about makeovers (namely the ones about ignoring advice from someone who has deliberately turned themselves tangerine, and - my bad - the one about women who willingly wear black lipliner in the middle of the day having no business with their hands near my face), and gone for it in spite of myself.

I have to say, the girl was a dab hand with the highlighter, I had it everywhere.  Cheekbones, upper lip, and on my brow bones.  The stuff on my brow-bones was, I kid you not, an inch thick!  Worse though, she'd used so many products on my face that the whole thing started slipping even as she was applying it, meaning she had to cake more and more and more powder over the top to keep the "look" in place.  It looked, and I kid you not, like crazy paving by the end of it. And she was so proud!  I went back to the office afterwards, and after listening to the insane giggling and dodging a volley of remarks referencing Danny La Rue (imagine the above picture with dark hair, that was me, that was), I vowed, there and then to never go to an Estee Lauder counter for a makeover again.

Well, today I'm eating my words, as I've been invited to a makeup lesson at one of Estee's flagship stores, and I'm actually really looking forward to it.  I think the Estee Lauder brand has really pulled itself out of the "old lady" rut with the advent of Tom Pecheaux this year, I adored his Blue Dahlia collection a few months ago, and his Christmas collection (which I'll be showing you soon) is beautiful too!  Plus, they've promised not to make me look like an elderly drag queen today, which is nice.   I'll be showing you the results in the morning, so they can't say they haven't been warned!

So, what was your worst makeover like?

Face of the Day - Berry Lips

Dark, gothic lipstick colours are very much the flavour of the day this season, so here's my take on the look:






I'm wearing Chanel tinted moisturiser, Edward Bess eyeshadow in Intimate, Dior purple eyeliner, and the lips are Daniel Sandler lipstick in Micro Berry. This shade, I've discovered, makes a really pretty stain too.

Will you be wearing dark lips this autumn?

Pride and Joy!

Get Lippie moved house over the weekend, and I thought you'd like to see the reason I chose my new abode:




In case you can't tell (and I won't be surprised if you can't) that's my new bath. It's also a jacuzzi, power shower, steam room, and ... er ... something else. Doubles as a disco too, as you can see! I still need to read the instructions, as me and MrLippie took twenty minutes just to figure out how to fill it with water yesterday, which was ... amusing. It also has a remote control for the built-in telly, natch!

Blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic for the next week or so until I get my broadband sorted, but I'll be posting from my iPhone in the meantime, which - you lucky things! - will probably mean shorter posts for a while!

Right, off to unpack my Ren, Shu Uemura, Aromatherapy Associates, Elemis Super Soak and various other bath oils, any recommendations?

So Annoying

I hate dodgy packaging:




Just went to apply my (lovely) Alpha H Age Delay treatment eye cream, and the nozzle has decided to stay in the lid!

Bye bye, eye cream, bye bye.

YSL Belle D'Opium

Launched in what must be one of the prettiest bottles I've seen all year, Belle D'Opium is the latest fragrance from Yves St Laurent.

A "sister" scent to the original Opium, this is lighter, and designed - I guess - to be more of a complement to the current trend for the fruity-musky-woody stews that are all you can smell in modern fragrance these days.

Which is a shame.  I loved the original Opium, my father used to buy it for my mum by the bucket load (in massive duty-free flacons), and the heavy, heady, spicy oriental scent of carnations and smoke perfumes many of my memories.  Belle D'Opium has, sadly, about as much in common with the original Opium as I do with Cindy Crawford.

It starts off well, not too sweet, slightly dry and a bit flowery, but not overly so, and for the first 15 minutes or so it's perfectly  ... pleasant.  Inoffensive. No spices, no headiness, no intense desire to keep sniffing, and work out what the notes are, as you get with some perfumes, just ... niceness. A little warmth, maybe, but it's hard to tell how this is supposed to remind you of Opium at all, outside of the name.

Then, on my skin, it simply  ... disappears.  Completely.  Totally.  Utterly. It disappears with such a total and abrupt thoroughness that upon occasion I've completely forgotten that I'd applied it in the first place and then an hour later I've applied something completely different. And, get this, when I have, the scents have never clashed, that's how thorough a nothingness is left behind once the top notes wear off.

It's a shame that such a beautiful bottle with such a historic name behind it smells so  ... gone.

The Fine Print: This was a PR sample I wanted to love.  Sorry peeps!

Review - Webster Whiteman

One of the most surreal - and proudest! - moments of my blogging "career" to date was being invited to judge one of the awards for this year's Creative Head Most Wanted awards.  I don't, in all honesty consider myself a hair blogger, but I can't deny that I am interested in hair, hairdressing and styling, so it was a great honour to be asked.

I was judging the Online Salon category, (click here for a full list of winners), and one of the finalists in my category was the team at Webster Whiteman,  I think I may have been more disappointed  than them when they didn't win the award, as I thought their website was a great one, it introduced the team beautifully, and gave a real sense of what the salon is all about.  Go check out their "meet the team" page, which is a great example of a salon with a great sense of humour!

So, when my roots needed sorting out recently (seriously, it's such a bind being an elderly brunette, you know),  I popped along to the comfy, and wonderfully unpretentious, Webster Whitman salon in the heart of Mayfair, just to see if their real life presence was as good as their online one.

I have to say that I wasn't disappointed in the slightest, the entire team is friendly, welcoming, and delightfully down to earth.  Even though the salon is situated slap bang in one of the ritziest areas of London, it's not at all intimidating, and throughout my three hours in the salon (which flew!), I was amazed at the assortment of diverse characters the salon manages to attract, from ladies who lunch to busy businessmen, to the occasionally slightly stressed and vaguely pre-occupied beauty blogger.

I think a large part of this is down to the staff, I chatted to the owners Darren Webster and Lisa Whiteman, who were both busy on the floor themselves, and I had a wonderful time in the hands of award-winning colourist Claire and also with Becky who did my blow-dry.  Both girls are amazing talents, and I won't be surprised if Becky is going to be a rising star in her own right one day, certainly someone who can teach me how to blow dry my fringe properly in a way I can actually remember a couple of weeks later certainly deserves a medal!

So, how did they do?  Well, I was happy with the last cut I received at the Chapel, and I'm still kind of in love with the highlights I had then too, but I was in desperate need of having my horrific roots covered up, so Claire and I  had a chat about covering them up, then blending them in via a semi-permanent shade throughout the lengths, so I wouldn't lose the highlighted effect.  I have to say that I think this has worked magnificently, my hair is shinier, my roots aren't grey, and I still have a gorgeous lightly sun-dappled effect:

As for the blow dry - and my love for a good "bouncy" blow-dry is becoming legendary in certain circles - with Becky, this is the result, full-bodied, but still wonderfully natural-looking, and full of shine:

Love it.  To the team at WebsterWhiteman, thank you very much.

The Fine Print: This knackered beauty-blogger was a guest of Webster Whitman, and is very grateful.

Wish List

If wishes were horses, beggars might ride, I guess ... but anyway.  Get Lippie is moving house this week, and I've been streamlining my makeup collection as a result of having to share my storage space with a fellow beauty blogger (okay, it's Mr Lippie) from now on.

Now, me being me, all this clearing out, and donating of products to the deserving has just lead me to start fantasising about what replacements I can make!  At the moment, I'd like any - and all - of the following, please:

Tom Ford Black Orchid Collection.  I was lucky enough to have had a preview of this last week - having previously written off the Tom Ford collection of lipsticks as being too rich for even my blood - and fell instantly in lust.  Consisting of a balm version of the Tom's Black Orchid perfume, a special edition black packaged Black Orchid lipstick, and a gorgeous Black Orchid (very, very remiscent of Chanel's Rouge Noir) nail varnish, this is a sophisticated shade perfect for autumn/winter.  Priced at a reasonable (in context) £90 for all three products, in Tom Ford terms, this is practically giving it away.  Want.

Speaking of Tom Ford - and sharp-eyed readers may be about to pick up a theme here - I'd also like a bottle of Black Violet by Tom Ford.  Or a bottle of Tuscan Leather.  Also by Tom Ford.  Seriously sexy scents these, I managed a little sniff recently, and fell in love with both.  I suspect Tuscan Leather would make a great layering scent for adding other perfumes to, and Black Violet surprised me a great deal by not, actually, smelling of violets.  I'm trying to get my hands on some samples of these, so I can have some more considered thoughts on the scents, but for now - BIG want.

Okay, so these two aren't strictly replacement products, but they are things I need to do again, well, I think so anyway:

I need a keratin treatment.  I had one in December last year, and I absolutely adored it, so it's time I got it done again.  I'm blaming Modesty Brown for this one, she had one recently, and I've been thinking about it for ages, so I'm waiting for the next time they pop up on Wahanda, and I'm booking me one!  They save me so much time and effort, it's not even funny.  Besides which, my hair is going through one of its periodic "insane" stages again, and even though I got the colour changed slightly - more about that tomorrow - recently, it's time to show it who's boss again, I think.

I need a spa day.  Packing all my stuff up - and downsizing my beauty collection by at least a third! - has taken a toll, and I'm exhausted.  I need a massage, and a day of someone else looking after me. Mr Lippie, send me to a flipping spa!

Oh, and I want one of these:

A puppy.  Highly impractical, but still.  Want.