Clarins Beauty Flash Balm

I just wanted to take a little minute and thank the beauty gods for helping me out yesterday.
Basically, the story starts with our heroine (me) on a broken down night bus at 3.00am, stranded in the middle of Battersea and freaking out slightly that she has to be in a taxi to Heathrow in two and a half hours. It wasn't my finest moment, nor my soberest, so you can imagine how I looked when I rolled up to the American shitty Airlines check-in desk at six.

However, somehow I had remembered to throw some Beauty Flash Balm in my hand luggage so once I was safely in the air, I larped on about half the tube, took two Tylenol extra strength and promptly went to sleep. I woke up a couple of times and reapplied but was too scared to look in a mirror until I was about an hour from NYC. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather (and not just because I was still drunk). My skin was glowing, there was no plane dryness, no congestion, no 'I was out all night, HA!' death pallor. Just lovely soft, glowing, fresh skin.

So it comes down to this, either made a deal with a devil that I don't remember (quite possible) or Clarins Beauty Flash Balm is actually a miracle. I'm inclined to believe it's the latter because the only devils I recall seeing on Saturday night were a particularly regrettable ex-boy and Mr Sambuca. Could it be that I've had Beauty Flash Balm hanging around for so long that I'd forgotten what miracles it could achieve when tested? Well, Brownie Guide Promise, I'll never take you for granted again. Thank you Clarins, thank you man in the window seat for climbing over me to go to the loo instead of waking me up and thank you Chris Pine for being on the big screen when I did wake up. That man is a looker.

Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette (again)

Four things I love:
Urban Decay
Tim Burton
Alice in Wonderland
Pop-Ups

Four things that have been combined to make me weep with wonder at its beauty: The Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Pop-Up Palette. And right now, head over to UrbanDecay.com and enter their competition for a chance to win a Tom Binns for Walt Disney Signature necklace AND the palette. Oh and pick up a Stash pencil for me while you're there would you? I'm all out.

Be still my beating heart.

Decleor Neroli Essential Night Balm

I've been meaning to blog about this FOREVER but I given that I like to give anything skincare a good few weeks on my skin before I sing its praises; this bad boy just passed the six week mark and I'm ready to shout it from the rooftops.


About six, seven weeks ago, I had the BEST facial at Bliss as a reward for finishing my last book (which wasn't actually finished but I'd booked so I figured, fuck it) and my lovely, lovely facialist* expressed slight concern that while my skin was good 'for my age' (cough, thanks) it was also dehydrated and congested. To combat both of these issues, she suggested I pick up the Decleor Neroli Essential Night Balm that she used on her own perfect, glowing skin. She then proceeded to show me how to scoop out a tiny amount of the balm, warm it between my palms and just press them into my skin, allowing the product to melt in. Lovely.

Everything I knew about Decleor prior to using this product, I'd learned from QVC (not to be sniffed at) but I'd never tried anything from the brand, so, blissed-out-happy post-facial/scalp massage, I purchased the balm and started adding to my nightly routine, under my Elemis moisturiser.

And I gots to tell you, it's been about six weeks, I'm a third of the way down the pot and I LOVE it. Aside from the fact that the application process is simply delicious and a treat in itself, my skin is soft every day and honestly, we've had some pretty harsh weather here in NYC over the last few weeks but not once have I succumbed to dryness, grey, dull skin or in fact anything except for sheer loveliness. I'm totally converted. It moisturises, it brightens, it purifies. Pretty much the only thing it doesn't do is clean the bathroom while you're asleep. And for the beauty buffs who are into such things, the balm is also 100% natural which is kind of nice, given that you're slapping it on every night. Also it smells divine. I demand that you get a whiff of it, even if you're not going to buy it. In fact, come over to mine and I'll wave it under your nose like sexy Vicks Vapour Rub.

Mmm. Where do I sign up for the rest of the range?

*Also, blogger tried to correct facialist to racialist. Snee. She wasn't a racialist, she was lovely.

Bobbi Brown Pretty Powerful

I have to admit, New York is hardly underburdened with make-up counters but there are always a few that I can't help but linger by for just a few seconds longer than I should. One of those is always Bobbi Brown. I reach for one of my shimmer bricks almost daily, live and die by long wear gel eyeliners if I need my make up to last longer than 12 hours and still treasure the remnants of my Blue Raspberry blush duo (aka Best Blush Ever).

So I was super happy to hear about the new Pretty Powerful campaign. Basically, it represents Bobbi's belief that all women possess natural beauty (fact) and if someone gives them the right tools and the right hints and tips, they can be empowered to a higher level of pretty. And before you start kicking off about how it's not that important to be pretty, check out this quote from Mary Wollstonecraft (e.g. super olden days chick):

'A woman of talents, if she be not absolutely ugly, will always obtain great power, raised by the weakness of her sex'

Pretty kicks ass. (I'm still not sure how I feel about this quote but it almost always make me laugh out loud. Especially when combined with the memory of one of my friends drunkenly expressing horror on a New Year's night out at the idea of 'not being even a little bit pretty'. She of course, is super hot. Cow.)

Anyway, Pretty Powerful is, in a nutshell, a way to make women feel better about themselves. And we can all agree that's a good thing, can't we?

So, my recommendation is for everyone to check out bobbibrown.co.uk/prettypowerful and then pop along to a Bobbi Brown counter for a pretty powerful make up lesson. There's no obligation to buy anything and you might just pick up a few hints and tips that make you smile. And really, what more can we ask for?

Ojon

Dear haircare fans of the UK,

Should you happen to be around London town on March 11th, the lovely Denis Simoni, founder of the awesome, awesome haircare brand, Ojon, will be hanging out at John Lewis on Oxford Street and offering advice on your very own barnet. And if that weren't exciting enough, you get a GOODIE BAG. And if that isn't exciting enough, you can get your photo taken with Denis! I've seen him on QVC, he's very handsome. I recommend you do it and then show your mum on mother's day and tell her he's your boyfriend.



Anyway, I'm sort of heartbroken that I'm going to be missing out on this, so I reckon you should go and let me know what goes on. There are limited spaces and there's a booking fee of ten English pounds but that's redeemable against purchases made on the day. I would go for the awesome, awesome Restorative Hair Treatment or the Rub Out Cleanser. It's a new launch in the UK but I picked some up from Sephora here in the US and I loves it.

Call 0203 073 0651 to book your place and tell Denis I said hi.
I mean, he won't know who I am but still...

Clarins Everlasting Foundation

My ongoing to battle to find the perfect foundation will seemingly never end.
First off, ninety-five percent of foundations are the wrong colour for me - as I was so kindly told by a MAC make up artist once, I'm ridiculously pale but I have warm undertones in my skin, so I'm not really warm or cool, just strange. Which was nice.

See? Pale but SO not strange.



But every so often, I find something that is amazing. The perfect shade. But of course, then it's the wrong coverage or consistency or it makes me break out or it wears off or it looks chalky and bad. I cannot win. For ages (three bottles!) I wore Bobbi Brown Oil Free foundation in Porcelain but then they changed the formulation and it just started to sit on top of my skin. Then it was Stila in 10 Watts, great but not enough coverage as winter came on. Occasionally I'd dip back into my BareMinerals but as much as I love it, it's really not portable. And then I thought I'd found a winner in Nars Sheer Glow in Siberia but after a few weeks of winter, it started to dry out my skin. Sob.



My last attempt as MAC's Studio Sculpt in NC15. At first it was too heavy and looked like a mask but I tried again and again, using different tools, different finishing powders, different amount of product and after much experimentation, I achieved a good finish with a tiny bit of foundation, a brush application and my Nars pressed powder on my nose and chin. And like so many of us do, I settled. It still went a little cakey in the afternoon and was heavier than I would like (I'm never satisfied) but it was good.

But then, my life was changed (thanks for bearing with me until now)... last night I was given a new foundation to test. Clarins Everlasting Foundation. Allegedly, this will last 15 hours without transferring, it won't cake, it won't fade and it has an SPF 15 included.

Well, that all sounds wonderful, I thought, but eight shades? There's no way they'll have one for my skin tone. I was wrong. Cream 104 = perfection. And there is actually an even lighter shade - AMAZEBALLS. So I promptly went home and tried a little, applied with a brush as recommended and BUGGER ME, it looked amazing. Polished and smooth but not caked and overdone. I gave it a couple of minutes to set and gave it a testing swipe with a tissue. Nothing. So this morning, I went for a full face application and it looks bloody brilliant.

Now, obviously, this is a very new relationship based entirely on lust and first impressions and I'm loathe to tell you how in love we are so early on but at the moment, the infatuation is strong. Promise to update you in a few weeks but I've got a funny feeling that this might be the one...

Check it out here for the US and here in the UK

Fortune Cookie Soaps

Full post to come later but JESUS H. CHRIST, look at these amazing soaps!

FortuneCookieSoaps.com

One of them GLOWS IN FREAKING THE DARK.
That is all.

MAC-tacular

I just took delivery of four new MAC lipsticks (look, last Thursday was a bad day for me, OK?) and they are uniformly awesome:

Viva Glam Lady Gaga
Viva Glam Cyndi Lauper
Phlox
Colour Me Coral

I love the new Viva Glam shoot, Cyndi looks amazing and Gaga looks so cute! MAC has worked some sort of miracle. Plus, love that the Viva Glam profits go to such a great cause. I picked up a couple of extras as gifts because you know, I'm all about the love.

I think I'm most excited about Cyndi's lippie but Phlox is sort of awesome too and if that wasn't enough, I'm going to the launch of the Liberty of London line tonight - clearly more lipsticks will be coming home. Oooh! So much slap, so little time...

Lee Stafford Matt Fat Powder

There's nothing I love more than something that makes my life easier, well, possibly something that makes my life easier, is inexpensive, pretty and faintly gadgety. Happily for today, the Lee Stafford Matt Fat Powder dispenser is all of these things.

Firstly, it looks like a massive hot pink salt shaker - awesome, yes? Secondly, it costs 8.99 from Boots. I have 8.99. Thirdly, it combines the joys of dry shampoo, volumiser and mattifier all in one product. Perfect for getting some cool, rock chick volume on your hair without a million hours of dodgy backcombing. I do not have hours to backcomb my hair. And also, backcombing will eff your hair right up. This lovely stuff will not. Oh, and it smells nice. Result.

This is a short post because it was a long weekend. And also, the picture says more about this than I ever can. It's AWESOME.