Bruzz

Nailbrushes.  They're not really the sexiest of products on the planet, are they? I think every household has one gently mouldering on the side of the kitchen sink, very rarely used, and unloved.  Bruzz aims to change all that.

Aveda Shampure Body Lotion, Body Wash and Compostition Oil

By Luke

There aren’t many of us that haven’t been seduced by at least one of Aveda's products. With their natural ingredients, and superb scents in just about everything they do, there was a collective sigh of relief when Aveda first arrived on the scene in the UK, as they proved that harsh chemicals and synthetics in hair products were unnecessary for healthy hair.

It took me a long while to jump on board with Aveda, but when I coloured my hair bright red recently I got involved with the excellent Madder Root shampoo and conditioner. Anyone who has had a similar colour knows that red hair dyes are notorious for fading fast, not to mention they're prone to looking a little lacklustre after few washes, so anything that helps stop those has to be a plus. And the Madder Root range from Aveda really does help and, as a bonus, it smells amazing.

However, Shampure is perhaps the most famous, and most-loved, shampoo range from Aveda. With its extremely distinctive scent that is now synonymous with the brand, it is incredibly popular. This year saw the 25^th anniversary of Shampure, and they've celebrated with the introduction of body products and oils all featuring the distinctive and much-beloved Shampure fragrance. Well, I say "fragrance", but it is actually the result of blending over 25 pure flower and plant extracts, including ylang ylang, lavender, and petit grain, all of which are said to bring on a sense of well being and calm. This is just as well really, as this is the signature scent of all Aveda salons around the world!

The Shampure hand & body wash is sulphate free and has the benefit of added organic Babassu nut oil which can apparently create a naturally cooling sensation on the skin which can help with relaxation and insomnia, I love this. The body lotion is hydrating and easy to apply, and is perfect for keeping that gorgeous Shampure scent with you throughout the day.

Even more recently they have added the Shampure fragrance to the ranks of their superb multi use composition oils. These are credited as being beneficial for body, bath, nails and scalp, and the universal oil can be used for just about everything except cooking (like you'd cook with a scented oil!) and obviously, it smells incredible! It's lighter - and more runny - than the other composition oils in Aveda's range, but it's fabulous for treating dry ends on longer hair, and makes a great addition to a hot bath that will both scent your skin and home beautifully. Use it on your scaly bits too, so if you've ever wanted beautifully scented elbows, now's your chance ... Now, Aveda, sort out a Shampure candle, will you?

Aveda Shampure bath and body, and composition oil available now. Prices range from £17 to £23.

The Fine Print: PR Samples.

This post: Aveda Shampure Body Lotion, Body Wash and Compostition Oil originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Rock Face and Rugby, A Match Made in Heaven?

****DISCLAIMER: This article contains sport, references to sporting personalities, and possibly even images of men in shorts sport. Be warned.**** Oh, and it's been written by MrLippie ...

 

 

Ever since Jonny Wilkinson burst into the national consciousness of England in 2003, there's been a slowly increasing awareness that rugby players are not always the rugged bastions of semi-Neanderthal manliness that they have often been portrayed as. This was further promoted with the appearance of the perma-tanned Gavin Henson on various "celebrity" shows, although it could (and should) be argued that he took the whole image-conscious look to the extreme.

 

So, when Bath Rugby Club recently announced they had teamed up with Rock Face for Men as a new sponsor, it hasn't raised as many eyebrows as it might have a few years ago - although those who don't follow the sport might well be surprised! Now, what sort of brand chooses a rugby team to be their new "faces"? Would it be a brand going down the uber-macho route, or were we looking at one which was aiming at sophistication, charm and wit? Going for the stereotype or something more left-field? Given that this was the first time I'd heard of a skincare brand associating with a specific rugby team, I was willing to bet it would be the former.

 

A brief look at the brand intrigued me - the packaging for all of their products is very straightforward - no garish attempts at being eyecatching, no attempts to look ridiculously sleek - just a simple glossy design, white and muted green, with a stylised mountain panorama. Each of the products has a different slogan on the front, but again, it's not in your face at all. You can read it if you really want, but half the time they'd just slide past your consciousness (as did the fact that they all have German subtitles - I only noticed that 3 weeks after I bought it!). So far, so good.

 

The first product I trialled was the shaving foam - naturally! The gel is coloured to match the packaging - the muted green - and it fluffs up nicely. It actually feels smoother than a lot of the competition, and spreads across the face without feeling too soapy. The only minor downside is that, being fluffy, it is surprisingly difficult to catch all of it with a razor! A quick wipe across the face with a towel solves that fairly swiftly, but definitely advisable to spare a quick glance in the mirror to make sure none of it is escaping into your ears or round the back of your neck....

 

After the foam, I gave the Face Scrub a try - now, I'm always a bit wary with these, after my first experience with them a few years ago left me wondering whether my cheekbones were exposed to the elements - but this was pretty good. Lightly scented (v.faint citrus, as with the rest of the range), with an almost Pacific Ocean colouring, it cooled and lathered up quite well, without feeling too gritty or feeling like just another moisturiser. Not bad. I was left looking a bit peaky and pink afterwards, but only to be expected - didn't damage me too much!

 

 

 

Onto the moisturiser - again, it's nicely done. Doesn't leave you feeling oily or greasy, rubs into the skin quickly, and you don't feel like there's something hanging around on your face for hours afterwards. Handy!

 

The last product I trialled was the Shower Gel. Nice, cooling, with the citrus aroma that doesn't linger too long, it does leave you feeling fairly fresh without the blast of menthol usually necessary to achieve the same effect! I'm quite happy with it, overall.

 

The overall impression I garnered from the range - both packaging and actual content - was that it goes a long way to achieving the "no fuss" status it aspires to. It's a great market to aim at, as so many guys these days are conscious of their appearance, but have no intention of letting grooming eat into their routine - I, for example, have an aim of being out of the flat and on the way to work within 30-45 minutes of my alarm going off, and I look at suspicion at anything that interferes with that goal - much to Get Lippie's despair....

 

 

On the flip side, how do Bath Rugby club feel about their new sponsor? We were lucky enough to spend a weekend in Bath (beautiful city, by the way) and went along to the Rec to sound it out whilst watching a game. Geoff Binding, the Business Development Manager, was around for most of the afternoon whilst we took full advantage of the hospitality, and filled us in on a bit of the background. "Rock Face are a great match for us, as they're a national brand gaining visibility and with a genuine desire to build a partnership with the club. The players have found out that there's a big box of Rock Face products behind my desk and I keep on getting harassed to hand it over."

 

Ben Williams - Centre

Ben Williams, Bath Rugby centre, said: “Rock Face offer no-fuss, great products – we’re out in all different types of weather when we’re training, and even the forwards need to look after their skin, so it’s great to be associated with these guys.”  

 

But what about the image and reputation of being a rugby player? Was that a worry at all?

 

"The great thing about rugby is that it’s always been full of lots of different characters. Looking back, you have the likes of Gareth Chilcott and Jeremy Guscott, who have pretty different images in the public eye, but were both fantastic rugby players. There are different views on what a rugby player can get away with these days, but I think so long as his performances on the field are up to scratch then there isn’t really a problem.”

 

 

Fair point. In a rugby-mad city like Bath, a little thing like a partnership with a skincare brand isn't going to affect the view of the club - it's all about what happens out on the pitch. In that respect, Rock Face is probably the best brand they could've teamed up with - it's not over-egging the image - it's all about getting the job done with a minimum of fuss. 

Prices are extremely reasonable for the quality and range from £2.99 to £4.99 (from Waitrose and Sainsbury's) but if you want to buy online, enter the code "GETLIPPIE" at the checkout at http://www.rockface4men.co.uk/buy-rockface-online.asp and you'll get your products on a great 3 for 2 offer.  We spoil you guys.

You can find out more about Rock Face and Bath Rugby Club here.

Editors Note: I got asked for more player pictures, never let it be said I'm not obliging:

Dave Attwood - Second Row

Stephen Donald - Fly Half

Dan Hipkiss - Centre

Guy Mercer - Back Row

Anthony Perenise - Prop

 

See the rest of the team here.

The Fine Print: We had complimentary tickets to the match, but products were bought at our own expense.
 
This post: Rock Face and Rugby, A Match Made in Heaven? originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Deo Perfume Candy - Edible Deodorant?

 Ever wanted to smell good enough to eat?  Well ...

Now you can.  Kind of.  Possibly. Maybe!  We're not sure. Anyway.  Cybercandy sent me this little box of Bulgarian Deo Candy, which contains rose extract (said, in Japanese studies, to be excreted in your sweat after ingestion) and claims to perfume your pits for up to six hours after munching!  Here at Lippie Towers, we decided to try a little science for ourselves, and put the claims to the test.

Well, we say science, it was more like sitting around on a Sunday afternoon eating sweeties then sniffing each other, but, instead of calling it "a normal Sunday afternoon with the Lippies*", for the purposes of this review, the title "science" will just have to do ...

The sweeties are pretty tasty.  I expected them to be rose-flavoured, akin to a hard-boiled Turkish Delight, but they're actually orange-y, and rather sherbety too.  Very nice, in fact. Bit crunchy. I didn't tell MrL what he was eating (although his face when I pointed out it was "edible deodorant" a bit later on was worthy of a blog post in itself, frankly), and we both enjoyed them.  After an hour or so, we had a sniff of each others pits.

Man, the things I do for this blog, seriously.

So, how did we smell?  Well, not that different to normal, really.  Possibly slightly sweeter than usual,  but there was no gust of Bulgarian rosy pits that we could discern, alas.  I'm slightly disappointed, but hey!  Sweeties!

For £1.85 you can have literally minutes of fun wit these, and possibly smell a bit nicer ... I did actually notice that my breath was a bit sweeter after eating these, so maybe a better breath freshener, as well as a nice taste sensation. 

You can find Deo Perfume Candy here
 
* We do our perfume testing on a Sunday. And MrL is a chocoholic.  SHUT UP.

The Fine Print: PR Sample
 
This post: Deo Candy - Edible Deodorant? originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Body Shop Ginger Sparkle Collection (and a little hint ...)

The sharp-eyed amongst my readers might have noticed a tiny Christmas flavour sneaking into Get Lippie this week,and you'd be right.  I'm only posting about those presents that have genuinely caught my eye though, and yesterday's giant lip balm, and today's giant gingerbread man have both made me laugh so I thought they were worth a mention.

Chock-full of shower-gel, body polish, soap and body butter all in the addictively spicy Ginger Sparkle scent, this comes in at £15 which is an absolute bargain in anyone's book.  They're the usual Body Shop quality, and quite highly scented, so don't buy this for anyone who doesn't like ginger.

Now, no gift guide is complete without the writer dropping a little hint about what they would like, so if anyone was interested in buying ME an early Christmas present this year, I'd like this please:

This little beauty is the Masters of Malt Ginvent Calender which contains 24 3cl bottles of gin.  I like gin.  I like Christmas. And frankly, what could be better than the gift of gin EVERY DAY in the run up to Christmas?  (Actually, I know what the answer to that is, and that would be the gift of champagne every day in the run up to Christmas, but I suspect we'd have to rob a bank for that one to happen).  Anyway, this costs £79.95 AND I WANT ONE. In fact, I WANT TWO.  Make it happen, people.  Pleeeeeeeease?
 
 The Fine Print:  PR sample, and a begging letter.  I like to multi-task.

This post: Body Shop Ginger Sparkle Collection originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Paris Purchases - Toiletries

I love wandering around foreign supermarkets (heck, I love wandering around supermarkets in the UK too - I'm a bit odd that way) looking for things I haven't seen before.  On this trip, I picked up a few bits and pieces which, whilst not all that interesting in themselves - they're things like shower gel and deodorants - are different enough from the stuff I can get in the UK to have made me want them.

Here we go:

 Shower gels.  Rhubarb and custard!  Seriously, why can't we get rhubarb scented products in the UK? Whilst I'm the first to admit I don't really care for fruity scents, as soon as I saw this one, I flipped and had to buy it.  It smells, almost precisely like rhubarb and custard flavoured boiled sweets.  I love it.  And hey, rhubarb is a vegetable.  So there.  I also bought the vanilla and pain d'epices scented variety.  A creamy smelling shower gel complete with tiny bits of "gingerbread" in the formulation, this smells good enough to eat.  I won't though.  But it's tempting.

Yeah, I went a bit crazy buying deodorants.  I'm an idiot and had forgotten to pack one, so when I spotted these, in scents difficult to find in the UK, I had to pick them up.  From left to right we have an amber scent, a vanilla scent, and a green tea and mint. I can't believe no one makes an amber scented deodorant in the UK, it's a beautiful soft-smelling deodorant, which will layer beautifully with any number of my perfumes this winter.  I bought the vanilla because hey!  Who doesn't want pits that smell of cake?  And the mint one?  Well, I go a bit wibbly when it comes to body-products that smell of mint, so this one just had to come home with me.  It'll pair wonderfully with my Guerlain Herba Fresca perfume.  Might be one to save for the warmer months though.

Cotton wool.  I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to cotton wool, surprisingly.  I have to have pads, and they have to be embossed ones.  I find them so much better to use than just plain smooth cotton wool, especially when it comes to removing nail varnish.  Embossed cotton wool just seems to work better with liquids, and smooth cotton wool works better for creams and lotions in my experience.

Here you can see the edges of the pads are bonded - slightly - and you have both a smooth and a rougher side.  I may have accidentally bought four packs of this back ...  

Anything caught your eye?

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.