A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

GUYS! See how cute saggy jowls are?  Don’t you just wanna grab, pinch and shake?

Y u no look this cute on humans?

Those gorgeous pups might be part of the anti-botox brigade but only in the animal kingdom is this kind of ground-dragging sagginess acceptable.  Boobs, jowls, ear-lobes and bums – you gotta keep ’em pointing at least 90 degrees from the vertical – well.. maybe not ear-lobes but you know what I’m trying to say!

Elemis have recently released Pro-Intense Lift Effect, a cream which promises to be the latest non-surgical solution to help improve firmness, tone and elasticity for a more lifted, sculpted facial contour.

I really think you need a couple of stitches and a scalpel to get the kind of lift that most women want to see but if you’re in your early thirties like me, and you’re just starting to see a loss of definition around the jawline and neck, it might be an area that you’d like to focus your skincare and attention without the drama or cost that having surgery creates.

Or you could just do what I plan to do and tie a couple of bells to your jowls in celebration of the “alternative to getting older is being DEAD” kinda thing.

It’s a nice enough formula that sticks to Elemis’ ethos of mixing natural products with cutting-edge science and it does indeed deliver an instant tightening sensation to the area which is strong enough to give me an “ooh it’s working” reassurance but not enough to send me screaming to the bathroom to check that it hasn’t shrunk my head.  It doesn’t deliver enough hydration to my combo/dry skin to use in place of my usual moisture so this would most likely be a “booster” to your usual skincare.  I’m sitting on the fence with this one.

Elemis Pro-Intense Lift Effect is available to on counter and online, priced at £55 for 30ml

* press sample

I wonder if my body ever gets jealous of my face?

I mean… I spend a fortune on trying to make my face look good, and if you discount x amount of moolah that I’ve spent on dieting over the years… my body is like the poor relation.  The hand-me-down kid.  At least it has my hair to keep it company, I neglect that too.

I haven’t gone mental… (in case you’re wondering).

You see, British brand, Elemis have just released a body version of their incredibly covetable Pro Collagen Marine cream.  It’s specifically designed to target anti-ageing and combat the loss of elasticity allover our *cough* vital areas.

It contains mystical-sounding ingredients such as Castanha Oil, Laminaria Brown Seaweed, Babassu Oil, Bilberry Oil and that ever-intriguing marine extract Padina Pavonica.  It even promises to help breakdown fatty deposits.

AND…

Let’s face it, once we hit 30, everything starts to head South faster than a pair of migrating blue tits.  Yeah, you totally saw what I did there.

But back to my original point.  I love Elemis’ original Pro Collagen Marine formula and it’s one of my very few top-end luxuries (the other being perfume I can ill-afford) and I’d slather it all over my body if I could afford to (oh hello cheaper body version!)…

BUT…

I’m just too lazy you know.

Do you guys make use of the wonderful technologies in your face creams and put them to use on your bodies?  Am I a bit weird for blatantly and completely ignoring what is (in fairness), the largest proportion of skin on my body in favour of this much smaller *circles face* bit right here?

Perhaps it’s more of an upkeep thing?  If I had the body of a goddess… I’d be more willing to put the effort in to keep it that way?  Hell, to get the bits below my neck reach any kind of level worthy of a bikini, I’d need about £20k in surgery and KFC/McDonalds/KrispyKreme wiped off the face of the Earth.  Minimum.

Which leads me to something that’s going to keep me awake tonight.  Do really, really ugly people not bother with face cream?

Elemis Pro-Collagen Body Cream is priced at £49.00 for 200ml and available on counter and online from www.timetospa.co.uk

Ecorganic – each time I look at that word, my fingers itch for an extra ‘O’ and a hyphen…

I’ve been trying this ECOCERT certified night cream for the last month.  It hails from Swedish brand Estelle & Thild who have recently launched in the UK exclusively at Urban Retreat in Harrods and online at Beautique.com.  It’s one of those brands that exude loveliness… beautifully packaged, whimsical designs, natural ingredients and this night cream is no exception.

From the Estelle & Thild Rose Otto Age Prevent Line, the night cream* is rich and nourishing without sitting on the surface of my skin all night.  I’m actually not convinced it’s quite rich enough for my skin in the winter but can’t deny that it’s pretty much the perfect formula for these warmer months.

I do have one problem with this product though: it stinks.  It took me a little while to pin it down… infact, it was Mr. L who hit the nail on the head when he leant into me one evening and sniffed my face: “Why do you smell like a freshly painted room?”

Not just any paint either, we’re talking gloss which is really a big shame because if it weren’t for this simple olfactory issue, I’d be tempted to give it top marks.  I feel especially mean when you consider that the reason it smells like the inside of the Dulux factory is probably because it’s completely lacking in the crap that would otherwise synthetically scent it.

I’ve been persevering with the smell simply because I like the results I’m seeing from daily use.  Upon waking, my skin tone is remarkably more even and although I can’t say I’ve seen any particular anti-aging benefits from it, I can tell that it’s a ‘calming’ formula for my reactive skin.  I’ll be taking a closer look at the brand’s popular ‘baby’ line for when L’s eczema starts playing up this winter.

Estelle & Thild Ecorganic Night Cream is priced at £46 for 50ml and available online at Beautique.com where you can check out the rest of the range with prices starting from only £14.00

* press sample

When a well-known skincare brand announces that it’s bringing out a professional line with professional results, it’s a point of interest.  When well-known skincare brand points out that its results are backed by a long-term, independent clinical study that’s been published in the British Journal of Dermatology – it’s a point of slightly more significant interest.

Introducing, Olay Professional.

You can keep your Thandie Newtons, show me the clinical studies!!!  Though to be fair, better dumb ’em down a bit, I only got a C in my GCSE Double Award Science.

The study involved a panel of women aged between 40-65 who tested the regime over a 6 month period against a leading anti-ageing prescription ingredient.  The study showed that the new Olay Professional range was as effective as the prescription ingredient, Retinoic Acid (the most powerful form of Vitamin A) at reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

If you want to find more about this study, there’s an article on cosmeticsdesign.com that you may be interested to read.

POP-UP SKIN CLINIC!

In celebration of the launch, Olay will be opening the doors to a temporary clinic where you’ll have the opportunity to pre-book for a free one to one consultation with a skin expert from the world of dermatology.

The Olay Professional Clinic will be open to the public for three days only (28-29 June and 1 July 2011) at 18 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London from 10am-5pm.  If you don’t want to pre-book, you can still drop by to receive a product demonstration by an expert beauty consultant, and relax in the lounge with an anti-ageing “mocktail”.

To book, call the Olay Professional Clinic booking hotline on tel: 0207 611 3770 and register your details.

Olay Professional went live on the Boots website today on a strictly limited pre-sale basis with only 300 Olay Professional Anti-Wrinkle Kits available for purchase and I hear that over 7000 women signed up for the pre-sale.  Scary stuff!

The full, nationwide launch is scheduled for August.

Do you feel like you’ve seen it all before or are you more likely to be interested by products marketed around the results of their clinical trials?

Back in September, I chose a reader to trial and review the new Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus – Wrinkle and UV Damage Corrector which had been picking up some rather fabulous reviews across the blogosphere.  Helen kindly agreed to provide us with two reviews…. one partway through her trial and another once she’d completed the 12 weeks.

Today, I’d like to share her thoughts on the product that she’s been using for the past 4/5 weeks.

Take it away Helen…

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Okay – so Charlotte very kindly chose me to review this product – many thanks Charlotte.

First impressions: Nice solid glass bottle with pipette type dispenser.  Product itself is a milky fluid – 100% fragrance free and allergy tested.  Love the bottle – looks and feels like it knows what it’s doing.  Slight drawback in that you can’t see how much product you’ve got left at a glance but I’m only about halfway through so should last til the end of this review.

What it promises: ‘striking improvements in as little as 4 weeks’… how does it do this… who cares…. oh, hang on… you do… let me quote… with ‘high-level peptides to boost the production of natural collagen’ and a ‘patented enzyme blend that works to mend visible UV damage’  So in just four weeks I should notice a ‘striking reduction in the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

What it’s up against: 45 year old mother of two who, although not a sun worshipper, wasn’t particularly good at applying facial sunscreen in her younger years and has only recently seen the error of her ways.   I also wear contacts so my delicate eye area is probably suffering a bit more wear and tear than it should.  I think the ‘before’ photo probably speaks for itself… (viewers of a nervous disposition may wish to look away!)

Usage: 3 to 4 drops to face and around eye area – twice a day.  Product is easy to apply via the pipette, and sinks into skin quickly.  Left my skin immediately feeling smoother and moisturised.  Have to say at this point I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn’t expecting my skin to feel so much better so quickly – but there was a distinct improvement in the texture and appearance after only a few days.

After four weeks – well….I do still have wrinkles/lines… BUT I would swear they are greatly improved in just this short time… please bear in mind the ‘after’ photo was taken after a very hectic weekend of late nights but even then I think you can see a difference.

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Thanks Helen, sounding really promising!  Can’t wait to hear your final thoughts once you’ve completed the trial and thanks for being our guinea pig!

Clinique’s Repairwear Laser Focus – Wrinkle and UV Damage Correcter is priced at £35.00 a bottle and available online or on counters nationwide.

When I read on the Perricone MD website that Cold Plasma was “A New Paradigm in Scientific Skincare” – I succumbed to the realisation that I didn’t have a clue what paradigm meant.  I suspected that I might need a degree in something better than Media and Cultural Studies to be able to use that word in company without much sniggering.

I went to Wikipedia to try and make sense of it, but came away even more confused.  Something about exemplars apparently…. so then I got out my dictionary to look up exemplars (whilst wondering how long all this was going to take and couldn’t they have just used the word “breakthrough” instead).  And then I struck gold, the penny dropped, the lightbulb flicked on and I ‘got it’.  It just means something that’s so brilliant, someone else is bound to half-inch the idea soon.

If you all knew exactly what it meant anyway… congrats, you just wasted about a minute of your life reading this.

So anyway, on with the product!

Perricone MD are well-known for their ultra-pricey, ultra-scientific skincare.  They’re like the Hell-Fire club of skincare but without the sex, whips and debauchery.  A pot of Cold Plasma will set you back 120 of your British pounds… that’s a lot of money for 30mls of something that smells like the inside of a fishbowl.

Which is why it was given to me earlier in the year at a PR event… I don’t have the kind of money to drop £120 on a cream that I’ve never sampled before in the hope that it will turn me into Bieber’s younger and more fresh-faced sister.

But that’s also why I was determined to see the pot through to the bitter end and not take this review too lightly.  People out there WILL spend that kind of money because they like to have the best of the best and sometimes, the best don’t come cheap.

I started using Perricone MD’s Cold Plasma around April/May.  The gel texture is cooling, refreshing and beautifully light.  It sinks in leaving me with velvet-soft skin and an almost instantly smoother complexion.  Sadly, this effect never lasted till morning or else I’d be commanding you all to go buy, buy, BUY!  The scent (which has been commented on many times before) is fishy.  Not fish and chips fishy, or harbour-side fishy but aquarium fishy.  There’s a difference…   Have you ever walked into a pet shop?  It doesn’t smell of cats and dogs does it?  It just smells… like a pet shop.  Well, this smells to me like a fish tank, are we clear on this completely unimportant distinction?!

Everytime I used it… I was like “ooooh, there goes £1”, which is quite off-putting when I kept losing about 20p worth under my nails.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike my products packaged in jars?  Squeezy tubes all the way please!

But anyway… I did it!  I reached the bottom of the jar at the beginning of August, which actually means that although I can’t describe this with a straight face as being “value for money” – this stuff did last me a hella long time!  I think because it spread so well over my skin, I really only needed to use a v. small amount each time.  I should downsize that £1 theory.

So, would I actually go and spend £120 on this to repurchase?

Um… no.

Despite it being a thoroughly lovely treat, I just didn’t see enough overall difference in my skin to warrant that kind of purchase.

I mean… Cold Plasma is promoted as helping to combat the 10 signs of aging, which include:

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And I just can’t say that I experienced long-lasting differences to these areas.  Yes, for a few hours my skin felt: smoother, softer and I also think it made my pores appear smaller.  But that effect would only last me through to lunch-time and I’m not even 100% positive that I wasn’t looking EXTREMELY hard to notice these things.

I am skeptical about all things claiming to work miracles but goodness me would I have sung the praises of this concoction from the rooves of the blogosphere if it had delivered.  For me, it delivered around £40 worth of good skin.  And that’s the most I’d give you for it.

… or to give it’s full title – Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector!

Phew!

Brand new from Clinique, this is sure to be a top seller this Autumn/Winter… especially with Christmas round the corner.  Promising to combat both wrinkles and UV damage, could this be the all-in-one solution that so many desire?

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Clinique introduces NEW Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector, a de-ageing serum uniquely formulated to work day and night to reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles, and repair and help prevent UV damage with results remarkably close to a dermatological laser treatment.  Use just three drops of NEW Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector twice a day and in 12 weeks, achieve 63% of the visible wrinkle reducing power of a laser.

Like three serums in one, delivering multiple benefits leading to visible wrinkle reducing results of a laser. Skin might not forget, but it can now help forgive the visible effects of sun, stress and pollution.

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I’ve been sent one for review consideration.  I’ve seen some pretty impressive results with it on other blogs, but in all honesty… I don’t think a review from me would do this much justice.

At 29, I don’t have wrinkles or even many fine lines… wait, let’s interject a little more honesty in that statement.  At 29 and with a penchant for cream cakes… I don’t have wrinkles or even many fine lines.  It’s the cakes, not the genetics.

I’ve also never been one to accept and review products “just ‘cos I can”, so I’d like to offer this up to one of my lovely readers to trial thoroughly and review honestly for my readers.

There are a few ‘stipulations’ though.

* You must be happy to provide before and after photos (close ups are fine if you’d rather remain anonymous!)

* You must be aged over 35

* Your trial period is 12 weeks with one reader update (no photos required) around the 6 week mark and a reader conclusion (with photos) once the trial period is over.

If you fit the above criteria and fancy giving this a go, please leave me a comment below and I’ll choose someone suitable next week.

Sound good?

If you simply can’t wait to find out what our guest reviewer thinks… then, Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector will be available at all Clinique counters nationwide from 10th September 2010 priced at £35.00/€48.00

I don’t claim to be a fake tan expert.  Infact, I’m the opposite.  I’m your bonafide fake tan dunce.  I’m so pale that in certain light my skin takes on that blue/grey fishbelly tinge… blue/grey… fishbelly.  Sexy.

Bronzed is something I’ll never achieve naturally.  I went to Australia for 9 months and friends still dine out on the fact that I returned paler.  I have been endlessly fascinated by fake tan solutions, but infinitely frightened of waking up the next morning looking like a bad parody of a Ganguro girl.

Fears aside, my interest was piqued when I saw a press release for Fake Bake’s new Platinum Facial Self Tanner.  It describes itself as the next generation of self-tan.  “Why?” I hear you cry… (yes, I do!) …because my dear readers, it contains pioneering Apple Stem Cell Technology.

“What’s Apple Stem Cell Technology?” I hear you ask, mouth’s wide open in anticipation… (shut up, you’re practically on the edge of your seats innit).  Dunno… hands up if you know what Apple Stem Cell Technology is?  I take it we’re talking Granny Smith’s finest and not Steve Jobs right?

Oh no wait… *reads press release*… ok… check this:

Not just ANY Swiss apple. RARE Swiss apple.  They only fall from trees on a Tuesday in a month beginning with the letter J and only if it’s a full moon.  Of course, I jest… I’m really none the wiser though.  But it sounds good, and I think I might want some regardless.

Just think though, how mega young would we look if  we actually ATE this RARE Swiss apple instead of fake tanning with it?  Maybe that’s Demi’s secret? The apples are only rare ‘cos that greedy bitch is having them shipped by the container load direct to her breakfast table.

Wanna know how to get your hands on this RARE Swiss apple goodness, and get bronzed and gorgeous while you’re at it?

Fake Bake Platinum Face Self-Tan is launching into Salons and retailers nationwide this month priced at £29.95.

…if you had any to begin with.

So, Proctor & Gamble endured a wrist slap recently with their Olay Definity Eye Illuminator advert catching the attention of the Advertising Standards Agency in the UK.

The advert features the iconic Twiggy, now in her 60s…

It contained a testimonial from Twiggy stating: “Olay is my secret to brighter-looking eyes”.

Proctor & Gamble had already withdrawn the ad before it came under scrutiny, stating that they’d reviewed the post-production techniques that had been used in the creation of the ad and had found the “minor retouching” around the model’s eyes to be inconsistent with their policies which led them to replace the original ad.

I do hope the digital artist got bitch slapped by P&G, I mean seriously… that’s not even good retouching.  If you’re gonna exagerrate the effectiveness of your product, fine… but at least stay within some realms of reality.

Olay Definity’s latest Anti-Aging Night Cream Ad…

Wait!  There’s too much character in that face, back to the graphics tablet retoucher man and erase those wrinkles, pores… infact, remove all skin texture completely while you’re at it! *whip crack*

On the whole, I don’t have a problem with digital retouching. I feel that I’m enlightened enough to appreciate that a retouched image represents a distorted reality and I don’t mind looking at idealised photographs appreciating society’s desire for aesthetics.  I mean, let’s face it… Twiggy (as beautiful as she is) in her natural state is gonna sell as many eye-brightening products as I am diet pills – she’s 60 years old for chrissakes.  I don’t feel conned by a little airbrushing… but where’s the god-damn subtlety gone?

Just because we’re all used to seeing these altered images, ain’t no reason for you to get all complacent about it Mr. Digital Artist…

Use it to make models/celebrities look their best, not to transform them into freakish parodies of the media’s eternal quest for unattainable cartoonish perfection.

Ahhh… the lovely Demi, looking younger than Leila.

Hahhhahahaa!  Dude, Digital Retouching for Dummies… a book with your name on it.

As an advertising tool, I dig it… but 2009 saw it getting kinda out of control and almost self-referential in it’s absurdness.

What are your thoughts on airbrushing? Against it? A necessary evil?