OMG she's back....

....and maybe here to stay????

I'm probably talking to no one right now, and perhaps ever again.... but if you are reading this then please, please leave me a comment or message! It's been so long since I last wrote that I'm sure this page has been the web equivalent of a ghost town..... echoes of previous posts howling in the winds.... html detritus blowing about.... you get the drift.

So think of this as a kind of re-development, a renaissance of sorts. I've been meaning to get back here for too long now, and it was only after a chance encounter today with a lovely make-up artist and hopefully, new friend, that I decided that I couldn't let all my writing go to waste. She was so enthusiastic when I mentioned I 'used to' have a blog that I really began to believe in it again and so, here I am!

This blog has always been my outlet for writing about something I love very much, all things beauty related. It's semi-autobiographical with a few nail polish shots and product reviews thrown in. I know that I have missed it, and I know that I need it back in my life. I welcome you to join in my journey here and add any contributions.

I'm also thinking of starting a Facebook page and.... I'm thinking of changing the title, but I'm yet to come up with something I'm happy with.

Until my first 'useful' post in ages, I'll leave you for now with a short list of a few of my current favourite products:

Make-up

Clarins Instant Concealer, Dolly Wink Volume Mascara, Bareminerals Eye BB 5-in-1, Estee Lauder Double Wear All-Day Glow

Estee Lauder Double Wear All-Day Glow - simply gorgeous, medium coverage which gives  a stunning healthy look to the skin.

Clarins Instant Concealer - Amazing coverage, beautiful finish, much hyped, hype is deserved.

Dolly Wink Volume Mascara - The only mascara I've ever found that holds a curl and does everything you'd want a mascara to. Only available from Japan sadly.

Bare Minerals 5-in-1 BB eye shadow - A surprise hit..... eye-smoothing, priming, colour... all in one. I love these!

Skincare

Apivita Serums, Decleor Micellar Oil, Vichy Normaderm Night Detox

Decleor Micellar Cleansing oil - Nothing removes make-up, even waterproof, faster. Seriously. Nothing.

Actually, anything Decleor is pretty amazing.

Vichy Normaderm Night Detox - Fantastic at sorting out troubled skin overnight. Angry spots are calmed, and skin looks radiant in the morning.

Apivita serums - I have both the Radiance and Hydration serums. These are beautiful, light and mostly natural and I've noticed that they do make a difference to how my skin looks and feels.

Bodycare

L'Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate body cream

Anything from the L'Occitane almond range.

Anything from L'Occitane in general.



There you have it, my lovelies...... I've broken the spell of blogging inertia.

Paris Beauty Haul!

Let's keep it short and sweet. I was in Paris at the weekend. Here's what I bought:

Yes, I went a bit crazy. Mr P was off doing his own thing and I was left to my own devices for a whole Saturday morning. See what happens when I'm left alone?

 My first stop was the pharmacy in Monoprix, followed by a lengthy stop in Printemps, the unbelievably gorgeous department store which, to be honest, makes Selfridges look like Aldi. Then I finally made it to Sephora.

In no particular order, here is a summary of the damage I inflicted:

Ella Bache skincare from Printemps

In Printemps there was a small Ella Bache concession on the 1st floor. Ella Bache is now a very niche skincare brand which is very hard to come by. My mum used to use their products a long, long time ago and swore by them. We're talking about 20 + years ago here. Anyway, I saw them and thought I would make her a little present of some skincare goodies. I also bought myself two face masks. Seeing as it's almost impossible to find these products, even online, I opted for routine 'add ons' rather than staple products. I didn't want to get addicted to a face cream only to not be able to find it again.

The nice lady also threw in free full size hand creams, one for me and one for mum. I can report so far that it's one of the loveliest hand creams I've ever used :)

French pharmacy faves ; Caudalie hand cream and Eau de Beaute, Nuxe huile prodigieuse, Melvita Extraordinary Water

 In the pharmacy section in Monoprix I bought lots of goodies. Mainly stuff that I'd always wanted to try but never justified buying. Now I found that justification, being in Paris seems to justify a lot.

I put the Nuxe golden oil in my basket first, seeing as I'll be Australia at the end of the year I'm going to have enough tan time to get through the bottle. The Caudalie Eau de Beaute has had a lot of hype in the blogging world. I bought the mini bottle to try for myself. It's to be spritzed before or over make-up to add radiance. Also for radiance is the Melvita Extraordinary Water. I'd heard a lot about the Rose version, but the Narcissus bottle called to me for it's brightening properties. I used it for the first time this morning and it smells like spring in a bottle.

The only make-up item I picked up was the lip-gloss which matched my Dior Diablotine nail polish. I also tried the lipstick version but it was just a little strong for me and preferred the lightness of the gloss. The sparkles in it are just stunning.

My only make-up purchase, Dior Diablotine lip gloss

Erborian newbies: CC Creme HD and Eye BB creme

 Also in the pharmacy I picked up the Erborian Eye BB creme which I believe is relatively new. Regular readers will know that I will not be without the original Erborian BB creme, so I had to try the eye version. Review will be coming once I've used it on a daily basis. The Erborian CC creme you see next to it I picked up in Sephora and is literally fresh from the factory, it's that new. This is my first foray into the CC cream world so I'm very excited to see how this works for me. First impressions are that it's very different from the BB cream and is more akin to a tinted moisturiser.... but watch this space.

Some Diptyque lovelies: Eau de Tarocco (roll on), and Eau Lente (spray). With samples.

 Perhaps the most beautiful part of my shopping experience was my stop at the Dyptique concession in Printemps. A very nice man explained the Dyptique ethos and experience to me and helped me to choose a scent that would be most 'me'. I had Eau Lente on one wrist and Eau de Neroli on the other and I let them live with me for a few hours. I couldn't stop sniffing Eau Lente. I was in love. And Mr P fell in love with it too, so he took my back to the counter and we sniffed our way through the other bottles before deciding on Eau Lente and Eau de Tarocco (which he can also wear). How can I describe Eau Lente? Spicy, woody, sweet and sultry. There is a subtle smokiness about it and I think it's very sexy indeed. Eau de Tarocco is spicy with a hit of oranges which makes it fresh while adding depth. Mr P totally loved everything..... a rarity, as he's very very fussy about scent!

Algenist cleanser

While I was in Sephora I got chatting to the lady at the Algenist stand. Algenist is a relatively new San Francisco skincare brand utilising something called Alguronic acid, a patent pending ingredient akin to Hyularonic acid in that it's exceptionally hydrating and repairing. I thought I'd try out the cleanser seeing as I get through cleansers like water.

Elancyl hydrating body lotion and toning shower gel

Last but not least, I had to mention Elancyl body products as they have the most divine scent of any range I've ever tried. I used to use them while i was staying with Mr P in Rome and I remember how much I loved them. The shower gel in particular is addictive. Imagine you're a wood nymph taking a gentle shower underneath a waterfall and you can smell the sweetness of the flowers, trees and leaves which surround you in your grotto. That's right, it's sweet and 'green' smelling at the same time.... utterly blissful. I urge you to try the shower gel next time you're anywhere that stocks Elancyl. In the UK I believe they have it at the Garden Pharmacy in Covent Garden. In France and Italy it's pretty much everywhere.

Phew, so I guess that just about wraps up what I bought. I didn't talk about everything because you have lives to get on with, but I hope you enjoyed me sharing this you anyway.

Let me know if you've picked up anything nice recently!

Meet baby BB! Comparison between Erborian BB cream in original and doré

So, Mr P and I were at Brussels airport on Friday on our way to Italy and I was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of a new natural cosmetics section within the main shopping area.

Much to Mr P's amusement I dropped my suitcase and bolted across the terminal to welcome the new arrivals.

I couldn't believe what a great little selection there was. Actually I didn't really get much of a chance to explore because as soon as I saw the Erborian shelves I was blind to everything else. They had my beloved BB creme au ginseng in MINI SIZE!

Or should that be mini size?

There were testers of both the regular shade and Doré (golden). I took the opportunity to test the golden one, having previously been informed that it was 'too dark' for most people. 


Oh how wrong they were! This is a gorgeous summer version of the original. It blended perfectly into the back of my hand and didn't look at all orange or bronze. I picked up the baby size one for €13.20. At 15ml it is half the regular size, but judging by how long the regular size is lasting me I think that this baby one will work it's 15mls very hard indeed. 

My BB cream had a baby!

Erborian BB Creme au Ginseng (left-doré, right-original)

Erborian BB Creme au Ginseng (bottom -doré, top-original)

Erborian BB cream swatches blended out slightly (bottom - doré, top- original)

Erborian swatches blended out much more but not completely.

It's interesting because although you can tell the difference between the two they both look natural in their own way. I would wear them both with confidence. This weekend in Italy I wore the doré and absolutely loved it. It does everything the original does but is a little easier to blend in with my slightly tanned skin. At the moment I find that I have to work the original one a bit more into the skin to avoid looking a bit pale.  I would definitely recommend the golden shade for tanned olive skin to darker asian skintones. I know that some find the paler BB creams look too ashy on the skin, so this is definitely, absolutely, immediately one to check out!


I know I'm meant to be on a Project Pan, but I don't think there is anywhere else I could get a miniature Erborian BB cream in Brussels or London. Seriously! Plus it's so frigging great I'm not going to beat myself up for getting it. 


I am however slightly beating myself up for falling off the wagon at Milan airport today...... oops.

I'm sure you'll thank me for it though. :)
 

Facing the summer

As the weather has been getting warmer I've found that the old adage of 'less is more' has never been more true, especially when it comes to make-up.

I realised that for the best part of the last month I've been using the same quick and light make-up and I've been best pleased with it. It's just enough to look polished and pretty without stress or fuss. In the last week I've been feeling doubly smug at my discovery of the Erborian BB Creme au Ginseng. This has just taken the ease of my summer routine up (or should that be down?) a notch to 'effortless'. 

So here's how to get the look. You'll need the following items:

1. Your base - Tinted moisturiser or mineral foundation, or even better,  BB cream (click on the Erborian link above for more info on BB cream)
2. Concealer - Under-eye and/or face concealer if you need it I use Garnier Tinted Roll-on for eyes
3. Shimmer blusher I use MAC Springsheen or Nars Orgasm
4. Pale shimmer cream eyeshadow My choice is Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow
5. Black or brown eye kohl
6. Mascara
7. Whatever you use to sort out your brows - pencil, shadow, wax etc  I use Benefit Speed Brow
8. Any lipstick or gloss of your choice. The brighter the better!

Ok, so the point of the look is that it lasts pretty much all day with minimum slide off. If you have particularly oily skin then I recommend using an oil-free primer before your base if you find that your make-up slides off. BB cream is heaven sent for me as it's not really 'make-up' hence nothing to slide off, just great looking skin all day. Could I rave any more about a product? I don't think so....

• Apply a light layer of your base working it in well and concentrating on the areas you need it most. 

• Apply your under-eye concealer, patting it in gently underneath the eye and concentrating on the inner corner and also slightly on the side of the nose if you are dark there too.

• Don't bother concealing imperfections which are only faint, the concealer will only slide off later on leaving you looking a bit patchy. If you have large noticeable blemishes or spots then conceal where needed and then set with a little powder.

• Using a soft blusher brush sweep your blush from the top of your cheekbones down onto your cheek. You want a lovely glow of healthy colour. The shimmer in the blush will also act as a highlight on your cheekbones. Build up the colour to a healthy flush. 

• Apply your cream shimmer eyeshadow to your eyelid with your finger.  Go just past the creaseline. If it's not a long-wearing cream shadow then prime the eyelid

• Now take your eyeliner and fill in the upper lash-line from UNDERNEATH. Concentrate the colour inbetween the lashes. You are not drawing a line here, you're simply darkening the lashline. By doing it from underneath the lashes you will be adding intensity and definition without creating a line which will eventually melt off and smudge. This is called tightlining. 

• Curl your lashes and apply mascara generously to top lashes only, then groom your brows. 

• Put on your lippie. MAC Costa Chic (a tangerine pinky coral) is my ultimate go-to colour.

And that's it, you're done!  Trust me when I say that the trick is in the tightlining, so please try it if you haven't done so before. It really makes you 'done' without looking 'done up', if that makes sense.

Let me know how you get on!

To BB or not to BB...

....now here is the question:

Have you heard of BB cream? If you are Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or have ever lived, visited or worked in Asia then you may have done. If not, then the likelihood is that you haven't.

So, what exactly is BB cream? Well, it's kind of like a hybrid moisturiser / sunscreen / skin perfector all in one. It is meant to give you baby soft skin and covers imperfections whilst making you look as if you were born with airbrushed skin. And that's the point of BB cream, it's like Photoshop in a tube. But it's not a foundation. Nor is it simply a tinted moisturiser. Actually 'BB' stands for 'blemish balm' but BB sounds so much cuter and is probably more marketable.

The reason I've suddenly decided to muse upon this new discovery is because I received a sample or Erborian "BB" Creme au Ginseng the other day here in Brussels whilst buying a mascara (Givenchy Phenomen'eyes, in case you're interested :)). I remember that I'd read about BB cream some time ago but had never given it much thought seeing that it wasn't really readily available in Europe and also I guess I couldn't really imagine what place yet another cream could have in my daily routine. Well, how wrong could I be?

Quite wrong as it turns out.

Erborian is a Korean brand subtitled 'Korean Skin Therapy'. It appears to have made it's main debut in France as most of the information I could find seemed to emanate from French websites and most reviews are by French women. Anyhow, it has managed to find it's way to Belgium and I'm so glad it did.

I was suspicious of this cream. It looked to be quite an ashy beige colour and I couldn't imagine how it was going to work. I applied it sparingly over one side of my face and then saw exactly how it worked. Half of my face was smooth, even toned, radiant and peachy if perhaps ever so slightly paler than the other half. I then applied some to the other side and saw a fresh face before me in the mirror. I really did look as if I had been airbrushed!

I've been using this BB cream for 3 days now and there is still at least 2-3 more applications in the sachet (it's a 1.5ml sachet!). So a little goes a very long way.

This peachy perfection lasts all day. It doesn't slide off like foundation and tinted moisturisers eventually do. Whenever I got a glimpse in a mirror when I was out and about I was amazed at how 'perfect' my skin looked in natural daylight. I'm normally very good at applying my foundation so that it doesn't look like foundation, but somehow this product goes the extra mile and smooths out the texture of the skin too.

This product is, like most BB creams, supposed to improve the condition of the skin over time,  a claim I cannot yet verify obviously. A little more research has revealed that the basis for a general BB cream formula was first created by a German plastic surgeon who wanted a product which would heal, soothe and conceal the delicate skin of patients who had undergone cosmetic procedures. The formula found it's way to the Korean cosmetics manufacturers and became an instant hit once women saw it's instant skin smoothing results, results which would normally be achieved using a minimum of 2-4 products.

I think this is a major selling point for BB cream. It can replace moisturiser, primer, SPF, foundation and, in some cases, concealer, thus considerably lightening the product load in your make-up bag and on your face.

If BB cream had been around when I was a teenager I would have fallen to my knees and thanked the heavens. It would have been just what I needed to sort out my sallow, uneven, sometimes spotty skin without piling on make-up which would have been deemed inappropriate for school. Now I'm simply thankful that I've discovered it as I can honestly see a place for it in my life. At the same time it has kind of made my foundation a bit redundant. I still need concealer under my eyes, but generally it has also made my concealer redundant too. Well, that's if I choose to buy it, which, let's face it, I probably will at some point.

There are many other brands of BB cream catering for all budgets, although I admit they may be harder to track down. Ebay may be your friend in these cases.

Here in Belgium the Erborian "BB" Creme au Ginseng is €33 euros. A quick scout on the web has revealed that it's also available at Harvey Nichols in London for £34 and also online at lookfantastic.com and strawberryandcream.com for the same price.

For once, Belgium is cheaper.... yay!