Can’t Live Without: Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

secret camouflage

Some ‘Can’t Live Without’ products aren’t the ones you faithfully turn to every day. There are those products that you may only need to use occasionally, but they save your life (or at least your night out) when they do. Laura Mercier’s Secret Camouflage concealer is one such hero product for me.

I first used it about a year ago, in the throes of a plague of spots on my chin and jaw that just wouldn’t go away. Facials; changing all my products; novenas - nothing was working. While I was working away to clear up the problem, my regular concealers just weren’t cutting the mustard to cover the zits in the meantime. Hell, I even turned to Rimmel Hide the Blemish, but it was still obvious that I had a chin that would give the Apache Pepperoni special a run for its money.

With a big black tie ball to go to, I was practically in tears when I turned up at the Laura Mercier counter and begged them to help. I’d heard tell of this Secret Camouflage business, but wasn’t sure if it could succeed where my trusty Benefit Boing and MAC had already failed.

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Tags: Can't Live Without!, concealer, Laura Mercier
Posted in Bases, Foundations & Concealers, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Can't Live Without!, Money No Object | 15 Comments »

Prime Position: Guerlain Ombre Eclat Eyeshadow Primer

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Guerlain ombre primer

Sometimes a product weasels its way into my affections and becomes such a staple I don’t think about it because it’s an unconscious step in my routine, and therefore forget entirely to tell you lot about how fab it is. This tends to happen with products from brands I just trust, and Guerlain is one of those companies.

It occurred to me the other day that I had never blogged about their Ombre Eclat Eyeshadow Primer, €28.11. This launched with the Exotic Paradise collection last year, and it’s been a firm fixture in my makeup bag since. So, what is it? It’s an eyeshadow primer, but it’s not a gloopy, sticky one, or one you have approximately two seconds to work with before it locks everything into position.

What this is great for is daytime: it’s creamy and helps to keep colour where you want it. If Urban Decay Primer Potion is superglue and what I’d go for locking glitter and smokey eyes in place, then this is wallpaper paste (and I mean this in the nicest possible way!) - easy to apply and work with and deceptively long-lasting.

The little brush it comes with is good and ideal for lightly applying across lids. It doesn’t stop you from being able to blend your shadow either, rather it’s a handy product that just makes things that bit easier on a daily basis and will add a little more intensity to shadow. Non-drying, it’s not hard to shift at the end of the day and just does what it says it will - primes lids for shadow and gel/cream liner, works, and comes off easily.

See, I told you I didn’t need to think about it - it just does what it says it will. Not the sexiest of products, sure, but you get a lot for the admittedly spendy price and the packaging is super-pretty. If you have the cash to splash this is a great buy, no doubt about it.

Tags: Can't Live Without!, Guerlain, primer
Posted in Can't Live Without!, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 7 Comments »

Nailing It: Mad About Minx

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

minx

I’ve had my eye on Minx for ages now: a bit like Incoco - but waaaay more fun - it’s been seen on the talons of many a celebrity including Lady ZzZz (or Lady GaGa as I believe she is more commonly known) and Beyonce. There have been a few places around the country offering it but it’s just gotten proper Irish distribution through Creative Academy and Spa, the Irish distributors of CND nail products, kaplanMD skincare and Solar Oil. So that means we’ll be seeing it in lots more places soon.

I headed out to their HQ in Fashion City (not a city in a whizzy William Gibson city-of-the-future stylee; an industrial park in Ballymount, dedicated to the rag trade) on Friday to check Minx out for myself. It’s an odd location to go and get a beauty treatment but the reasoning behind the spa being there is that the company’s training academy is in the same building, and the fact that there are so many offices and businesses in the area means there’s a captive audience for lunchtime treats. If you work nearby it’s a great place to have handy and was busy during my visit on Friday with ladies getting weekend pedis.

Right so - what is Minx? It’s stick-on nail art, basically. Like Incoco, it comes in pre-shaped pieces and is pressed onto the nails, which need to be lightly prepped before hand and buffed to give the product a key to stick to. Unlike Incoco, it requires heat to seal it and isn’t a consumer product - you’ll only find it in salons. Where Incoco is composed of layers of polish and topcoat, Minx is a thin plastic polymer which gives it greater longevity and makes it possible to print all manner of weird and wonderful patterns on top. Incoco can be removed as you would any polish, but Minx needs to be heated and removed either in-salon or you can do it yourself by blasting a hairdryer at nails until the transfers start to lift, then peeling them off.

The most exciting thing about it is, of course, the pattern options, of which there are over 150. I won’t lie - some of them are disgusting. But some of them are AWESOME: polka dots, leopard print, fishnet effects, houndstooth, tartan, flames, skulls, stripes and checks are all on offer. What did I go for?

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Tags: Can't Live Without!, minx, nails
Posted in Can't Live Without!, Hands, Body & Feet | 7 Comments »

Benefit Coralista - Where Have You Been all my Life?

Monday, October 12th, 2009

coralista

I really thought we’d reviewed Benefit Coralista, €31.50, but while it’s been mentioned in passing and even given away, no one’s set down their feelings for it in digital-style writing yet. I wasn’t very interested in it when it launched, sniffily reckoning that I wouldn’t like it. God knows why I thought that, BECAUSE I BLOODY FECKING WELL LOVE IT.

A late convert, I know, but this is wonderful. It’s a superb product that performs excellently, smells delicious and really really transforms a face of makeup. The orange/coral shade is terrifying, I’ll give you that. But it’s easy to use - though throw away that brush and use a regular angled brush blush, you’ll get a better result. I buff it onto the apples of my cheeks and back out to the hairline and regularly wear it during the day. It’s easier and less in yer face than the pinks I use so much, and it’s also very warming. There’s some subtle sparkle in there too which I like a lot.

I tend to like to wear contrasting makeup so I’ve found this looks really good with thick, winged navy liner - blue (ok, I know I’m stretching it there) being opposite orange on the colour spectrum. It’s pricey, and as ever, the carton is prone to disintegration, but you get a whopper of an amount, and the sheer prettiness of the result makes this an all-round, tip-of-the-tops buy.

Tags: Benefit, blusher, Can't Live Without!
Posted in Can't Live Without!, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 31 Comments »

Custom Facials with Academie at Bespoke Beauty

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

bespoke

D’you ever read the British glossies, packed full of sterling recommendations for star beauty therapists and think, “how come we don’t have more of them, eh?” Well - we do, it’s just that our pool is so much smaller that less of a buzz can grow up around the estheticians who are truly great with their hands.

Elaine Butler-Doolin is very definitely en route to cult therapist status. She’s also the beauty editor of Social and Personal and she teaches beauty therapy, so she’s a rare beast in the industry - she’s at the top of her game, knows exactly what’s what product wise and that was what led her to use Academie products at her new solo venture, Bespoke Beauty. Elaine reckons the range is excellent quality at a good price and provides equally excellent results.

I headed in to see her shortly after she opened Bespoke Beauty, and partook of a custom facial. At €100, you get a lot of bang for your buck: 70 minutes of it to be precise, and the treatment kicks off with a very special back massage.

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Tags: bespoke beauty, facial, treatment
Posted in Anti-ageing, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Can't Live Without!, Skincare | 6 Comments »

Whaddya Know? Garnier Pure Active Spot-on Roll-on Really Works

Friday, September 25th, 2009

I have a COLOSSAL zit on the side of my chin. Oh my god. It is huge. It’s like the yoke on Richard E Grant in How to Get Ahead in Advertising. It’s taken a life of its own and I can only attribute the weather going from humid to cool; starting work in an air conditioned office and mucho stresso for it.

Eh, the picking at it won’t have helped either, I guess.

Anyway, when it reached vesuvius proportions earlier this week I began to panic. This was no mere ‘area of congestion’, this was an out-and-out erruption and I really very rarely get them. I needed something pretty heavy duty and handily remembered the Garnier Pure Active Spot-on Roll-on I’d left in himself’s bathroom cabinet.

Out it came and on it rolled. It’s got 2% salicylic acid which is a whizz for battling zits. And it worked - two days application twice a day has brought it right down and the redness has almost completely faded. For €10.49, that’s not a bad result.

But there is a drawback - as there is with ANY spot-reducer, cheap or dear: they really dry out skin. A lot of people grumble and think anti-zit products are a failure as a result but that’s just what these boyos do - the ingredients are in there to dessicate the spot and stop it oozing. Unfortunately, if you slap stuff like this on willy-nilly then yes, you’ll get a lot more drying going on than you’d like. The rollerball on this makes it easier to be precise, and while I do have a flaky chin, it’s preferable to the weeping volcano that was there two days ago.

All in all, a great emergency fix to have on hand, well done Garnier!

Tags: acne, Garnier, spots
Posted in Beaut.ienomics - brilliant budget buys, Can't Live Without!, Skincare | 12 Comments »

Much Love: Dermalogica PreCleanse

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

dermalogica pre cleanse

I’m in a bit of a cleanser limbo land at the minute.

I like to think I’m the antithesis of those desperate souls in the ad for Batchelors beans - you know the one, where people furiously shake and (ew) lick the nibs of their biros to try and get the ink flowing, or batter their toothpaste tubes to death as they attempt to eke the very last little bit out. As some loony opens her cupboard stacked full of bean tins, the voiceover wryly intones “It’s funny how you never let yourself run out of Batchelors”.

Replace “Batchelors” with “Eve Lom Cleansing Balm” and you have me.

Well, usually.

At the minute, however - somehow - I’m all out, and there isn’t a trip to an NYC or a Harvey Nicks or a Space:NK in my near future. Of course, I could try one of the dupes that now abound. Liz Earle, Boots Time Delay, Urban Retreat, The Sanctuary - all offer cleansers that polish off with a muslin cloth, but I’m saving my sheckles for the real deal and in the meantime using up make-up taker-offers that I’d nearly forgotten I had (and had long since meant to pawn off on gift to Mam and my sister.)

Luckily for my mush, I haven’t run out of my other cleansing staple: Dermalogica PreCleanse. I’ve a bottle of this magic stuff that I’m using to help send the day’s slap on its merry way down the plughole before applying Some Random Cleanser That Should Possibly Have Been Binned Last Month. It’s a cleansing oil that contains conditioning essential fatty acids to help smooth, calm and nourish skin. Aaaaah.

PreCleanse smells lavenderlicious, and in addition to shifting the likes of waterproof mascara, Double Wear and Double Wear Light without leaving a greasy residue, it lifts excess sebum and any oil-based grime without drying skin. You massage the oil onto dry skin using small circular motions before wetting your hands and massaging your face again, at which point the oil becomes a milky emulsion that rinses off easily. It’s best to apply PreCleanse to a damp cotton pad before tackling eye make-up: although suitable for use around the eye area, like any oil it stings like the bejaysis if it strays in the direction of your eyeball.

Using Dermalogica PreCleanse as a cleansing step one means that even cleansers of dubious pedigree and merit manage to pass the white muslin cloth test. I just hope it lasts until my piggy bank fills up and I manage to beg a lift to Dundrum from Himself…

Tags: cleanser, Dermalogica, Eve Lom
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Can't Live Without!, Skincare | 40 Comments »

AW09/10 Stars: Illamasqua Lipstick in Avenge

Monday, September 14th, 2009

illamasqua avenge lipstick

Testing and trying (purely for your edification, y’unnerstan’, I get nothing from this) autumn /winter launches across a spread of brands, I’ve found a few truly ace products that I’m using all the time at the mo. YSL’s Creme de Blush is one, as is the many, many-mentioned Rouge Dior Serum de Rouge. Being such a blusher/lipstick whore, another that’s seriously taken my fancy is Illamasqua’s Avenge lipstick, from the Dystopia collection.

If I thought Dior’s Diorlyworld was the height of slutty pinkness then this caused me to have a very quick re-think. Avenge is bright. Oh boyyyyaaa, this is really, really, really, really bright. Verging on flouro, it is of course right up my show-off street. It makes my teeth look unbelievably yellow, it won’t work at all on chapped lips as it heightens the appearance of any flaky bits, but if you condition your pout beforehand then it’s a super-star.

So basically, I really, really, really, really love this.

Tags: AW09, illmasqua, lipstick
Posted in Brands, treatment & product reviews, Can't Live Without!, Eyes, Lips and Cheeks | 12 Comments »

Trilogy Age Proof Nutrient Plus Firming Serum

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

trilogy

Kirstie raved about Trilogy’s Rosehip Oil yesterday and by coincidence I’ve also been using and loving their Age Proof Nutrient Plus Firming Serum. If I start the post by telling you that I’ve had this serum for a bit over three months now and am a good three quarters of the way through the bottle, it should be clear how much I like it.

I am generally very fussy with my facial skincare in particular, so if there’s anything I particularly dislike about a product, I will rarely finish it just for the sake of it. Part of Trilogy’s Age Proof line, which also includes an SPF15 day cream and a night cream, this serum is designed to “gently firm and lift skin and restore a more radiant complexion”.

I love the idea of using a serum under moisturiser as my skin tends to be dry, but is also quite delicate, so heavy creams can overwhelm it. This Trilogy serum is working perfectly in that regard - it contains hyaluronic acid which is helping to hydrate my skin and plump it up, but it is very light on my skin and sinks right in immediately. Active plant ingredients such as green tea, licorice and mulberry root are also included to brighten the skin, and I must admit that my complexion does look much brighter and more even-toned with regular use.

In the summer months this has been the perfect product to apply under sunscreen and it seems to have kept the clogged pores I often get from regular sunscreen use at bay. And in the winter this will be ideal under moisturising creams - adding hydration without feeling heavy on my skin.

So what’s the damage for this miracle in a bottle, I hear you wondering - well I paid €28.95 for a 30ml bottle in Nourish and consider this more than worth the price.

This is one product I will definitely be replacing when it runs out.

Tags: serum, Skincare, Trilogy
Posted in Anti-ageing, Brands, treatment & product reviews, Can't Live Without!, Ethical & Organic Beauty, Skincare | 9 Comments »

Buying Beauty: Do You Suffer From Fear of the Unknown?

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Can't Figure It Out

Maybe I’m alone in this feeling, but despite my addiction to beauty products, I’m quite reluctant to try out new products once I’ve found a particular favourite in any category. I love Aveda haircare, for example, and have purchased and repurchased shampoos, conditioners and styling products from the line. And despite the fact that there might well be something even better out there for me, I rarely try new hair products, for fear they just won’t work.

Part of the issue, obviously, is not wanting to spend money on something that might not work when I already know what does work for me. Pure Beaut.ienomics, really. Even if I buy a product that is cheaper than the one I already love, I won’t be saving any money if it turns out I hate it. So I’ll happily spend money on a product I am guaranteed to use every last drop of, rather than buying the cut-price alternative I may not even want to finish.

Another worry, particularly with skincare, is whether a product will cause a reaction. My skin isn’t terribly sensitive, but sometimes a seemingly innocuous product will cause it to redden and itch, so I’m particularly careful about the ingredients in products I use. When I do try something new, I tend to stick to brands I am familiar with, reasoning that if I already like a cleanser, for example, the probability is good that I will also like the moisturiser.

So - am I alone, or do you too suffer from Fear of the Beauty Unknown?

Tags: favourite products
Posted in Can't Live Without!, Rate it | 22 Comments »