Tuesday 23 November 2010

Today I'm Wearing...Lanvin Lipstick


In honour of the Lanvin for H&M fashion drop today (everything sold out so don't even look - it's too heartbreaking) I am wearing one of the 2 lipstick shades, just because it is the perfect anti-hangover colour. Do you get that? Bright lipstick is the makeup equivalent of Prozac. just me? anyway...

Yes I know it is only Tuesday but it was my birthday yesterday so Monday night wine was OK.

p.s. I did get the pea pod Alex Monroe necklace - from my lovely mum and dad. Hint taken! well done...

Lanvin for H&M lipstick in Hot Pink, £7.99 (I think even this is sold out so this info is a bit redundant. Try Ebay but be prepared to add another '0' to everything...)

Tell Your Friends...about Warming Peat Ritual


So this is the unusual treatment I was, I'll admit, weirdly nervous about. Let me confess - I don't actually like spa treatments very much. It's partly a control thing - I'm stuck at the mercy of someone else for an hour or so. Partly also the guilt thing. I just can't relax thinking of someone working hard to relax me. I try and try but I just can't stop worrying about how much their hands must hurt by now. I can't fathom how people can actually fall asleep mid massage. For one you miss all the relaxing action, and for another, you are sleeping, virtually naked, in front of a stranger.

So, this Warming Peat Ritual exclusive to the Espa in the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt Hotel was a new experience for me. NINETY minutes of exfoliating, peat smearing, wrapping and massaging had me in a bit of a state of dread. (ungrateful, I know...)

In reality:

exfoliating: How I would imagine a baby cat feels being licked by its mother. Weird, but true.

Peat: It's basically 9000 year old Og Ireland Peat, (doesn't stink) only obviously found in Ireland, warmed and smoothed on all over. Its got a lot of minerals and skin benefits that made my skin feel amazing afterwards. Looked odd though. Like a monkey?

Wrap: NOT the clingfilm horror I've been avoiding all these years. Just nice warm towels. The oriental head massage that went on simultaneously was plenty to knock out any claustrophobia inclination anyway, and Patrice, my therapist told me to tell him if I was uncomfortable 'being like a mummy'. The wrapped kind, not the cat licking kind.

Massage: Oh my goodness. So amazing. the best massage I ever had by far. I managed to not feel guilty, I managed to completely relax, I did spend the last ten minutes getting a bit sad that it was going to finish soon though. And no, no sleeping. But I reckon I just need to practice. So, another one next week? It would DEFINITELY be worth the trip to Ireland...


The Espa Warming Peat Ritual at the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt Hotel, euro 175. Click here for more info



Saturday 20 November 2010

A Postcard From...Dublin







After a very convoluted journey that saw us arriving at the most magnificent hotel in my experience (and I've stayed at the Beverley Wiltshire) at close to midnight, I have to do a part one-er of a several part post I think. i can feel a 'Tell Your Friends' coming on. This hotel is amaaazing.

It's like someone picked up Claridges - complete with Gordon Ramsey restaurant -fed it Multi vitamins, then plonked it down in County Wicklow 3 times the size. But BETTER.

I am willing to bet Claridges doesn't have Mega Chess in it's 1000 acre garden. Or an Irish pub on the 3rd floor. Needless to say that is where DadJokes and I ended up last night.

Now, off for an 'unusual' spa treatment. I don't mean to brag but I think I might have to...




























































Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The Ritz Carlton Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, Ireland

Thursday 18 November 2010

diary of a clean girl


Billie Piper and I have one thing in common. Toothpaste.

If you're interested my take-home-from-the-cupboard toothpaste of choice is Beverly Hills Formula (I have a love of the Classics). Billie uses it too-oooh.

That isn't quite as interesting as their cute campaign to make the nation smile. I'm having a hard week so I'm behind this one. Especially if it results in me winning a shopping spree in Topshop and a years supply of toothpaste. A year! Maybe I should email the link to Billie.

You have to upload a picture of your friend with the best smile. Here are my offerings. Come on Beverly Hills, make it happen...

dadjokes



my little monkey niece Poppy

the one and only desmond


the daddy

upload pics directly to the Beverly Hills facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/beverlyhillsformula

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Weekend Buffer pt 2: yoomoo Monday

Monday morning was notable for two things - a) it was the start of another working week in the run up to Xmas issues, which means extreme journalism and coping mechanisms should be put in place.

b) it was absolutely brutally freezing.

Therefore it made perfect sense to have a giant belgian chocolate frozen yogurt with Oreo cookies and edible gold flakes for breakfast. For breakfast. Forget the fact that there were various breakfast-y frozen yogurt options at yoomoo in Harrods, if there is chocolate on the menu, I am going to order it. Even if it is 10.00 in the morning.

According to Deborah at Pure PR who took me there for breakfast there is a law of thermodynamics that says if I eat cold frozen yogurt my body will feel warmer. I say that's cr*p but it doesn't matter that I was cold because it was DELICIOUS. Big enough for eight people to share (cost effective) I was defeated, but have been dreaming of magnificentmoo since.


I showed Katie this shot of how much I managed to eat. She said 'oh no, you should have brought it back as a takeaway'. Er, frozen yogurt Katie...


This one is 4th Floor Harrods, right next to Kurt Geiger weirdly enough, but they're also nationwide (Bluewater of note) and spreading...

p.s. I don't like Pink Berry in LA, so a Frozen Yogurt bar that seems blog-worthy for me, must be definitely blog-worthy.

Monday 15 November 2010

Happy Birthday Max Factor


Happy 10th birthday to the one everlasting lip stain/stick/gloss all rounder that I use as my fallback foolproof suits everyone and everything product for any story that involves summer-proofing, party-proofing, water-proofing, budge-proofing, any other kind of proofing you can think of, since my first job in beauty writing.

Max Factor Lipfinity, thanks for the easy journalism and uber-proofing.

Weekend Buffer pt 1: Tequila Friday

It was a hard week last week, as photographically summarised by Katie above. Luckily I have certain methods in place both for alleviating stress -in this case, and preventing it (look out for part 2: Y00MooMonday).

17.00 on a Friday tequila cocktails in the office for my team you say? Well that makes perfect sense. Our entire desk eagerly awaited the arrival of Sauza Tequila girls (not the kind you get in Mahiki etc. with a harness belt and a lot of hair extensions. No, these were PR girls who do Collection 2000 also - hence the tenuous beauty connection), who mixed us winter berry Margarita's and then something gingery with Courvoisier. Email me for recipes, or go to www.mixxit.co.uk for more info.

There followed an interesting walk over Blackfriars Bridge to the station. Thank goodness for safety barriers in place for gusty weather...


for the facts: drinkaware.co.uk

Friday 12 November 2010

Perry Purrfume launch





10am, mingling outside Circus in Covent Garden, waiting for entry to the launch of Katy Perry's perfume Purr. 10.30am, mingling outside Circus in Covent Garden, still waiting.

11.15am still waiting, this time inside, for Katy Perry to come and launch her looong awaited perfume.

11.30 or thereabouts, she arrives and all is forgiven as she is lovely and pretty and actually quite funny. Particularly with such gems as "Russell does like my perfume. He realises there will be a lot of jokes made about it."

I should explain, it's cat shaped. Make of that what you will in relation to the new Mr Perry.

Smells fun and cute and sprightly - all three things she wanted for her debut scent. Basically its Katy Perry in bottle form. Get it from now in Selfridges, rolling out nationwide next month.

Thursday 11 November 2010

Seeing Stars

This job has taken me from Retard Bay in Hong Kong to the NEC in Birmingham, but nowhere is more special than the bedroom at the Mandarin Oriental where Sawyer from Lost was residing. While he got ready for our interview in the other room, I quietly spat my chewing gum in his dustbin, just so I could leave with the knowledge it was there. Stalkerish? slightly. Here are some other highlights...












Friday 5 November 2010

Today I'm Wearing...Shirley Bassey Falsies

This post is difficult for me to write. Literally (DadJokes nb. correct use of this word), with 2cm long stick on nails. But if you're going to suffer a lot of typos, then make the suffering worthwhile, with the ruby red slippers of the false nail world - Star by Julien Macdonald glitter nail set.

Get them in Debenhams (soon), stick them on after you've completed all your work, and listen for the firework night appropriate 'oooh's and 'aaaah's'.

There is no option but to go out after work tonight now, damn glitter nails...

Beauty Editor Syndrome


I may have touched upon this topic before, but it never ceases to amaze me how unpredictable my skin has become since doing this job. I am (nearly) 31 years old, shouldn't I be resplendent in my non-hormonal skin by now? Isn't that at least a benefit of getting older? There must be ONE.

Here is my problem. I get a lot of products sent to me, and the LOOK way is, if you don't know its good how can you say it's good? A good point, but it means I have no skincare routine. I have even been to the doctor for this, to no avail. Apparently this happens sometimes when people turn 26. That seems a bit tenuous to me, so I rejected my medical prescription and set about making up my own.

Here are my findings:

Clarisonic is like Florence Nightingale in electric form. An electric toothbrush in theory, but supersized for your face. It claims to make any facewash work harder, but whatever it does, it does brilliantly. Freaks Dadjokes out a bit at bed/bathroom time, but who cares? AND it comes in Pucci form.


ph Advantage acne regime is hard core but effective. I wouldn't say use this always, but if you're stuck in a wobbly skin cycle, use it for a few weeks and then start back on the normal stuff. Having tried most things going, this is good enough to make me anxious if there isn't a back up supply in my back up cupboard.


Fresh Soy Face Cream is the key. I am always sceptical when it comes to brand ambassadors, founders or creators say 'oh you have sensitive skin? you MUST try this, it will definitely make your skin AMAZING.' So, feeling 'yeah, yeah, whatever you say' about it, I left the Soy range in my back-up cupboard until I ran out of whatever I was using before. its got vitamins A, C and E, soy proteins for protection, rose water for restoring, meadowfoam for nourishing...but lets be honest, if it has manure and tea bag in it I will be happy if my skin gets fixed.
Now, if I run out of Soy Moisturiser (which happens frequently because the tube is tiny! Mr Fresh - address the problem please), my skin starts to freak out. It takes two days. This means Soy Moisturiser is my antibiotic in skincare form.

I have run out btw, hence no picture today.