Hello stranger!

Yes, you there.... HELLO!!! It's been a while and I'm very sorry for that. I cannot believe that my last appearance on Blogger was on the 10th November! I

'm so out of the loop, can you believe that I didn't even know what the new Chanel 2013 Spring collection looked like until yesterday? Yesterday! The blogging community has known since way before Christmas.

And by the way it's very nice indeed. All three eyeliners are calling to me as well as the new eye palette. 

I'm so behind.... *sobs*

Today I thought I'd kick my creative juices into flow and at the same time let you know about some products that may or may not change your life. There have been a few things over the last month or so that I've been practically idolising and it wouldn't be fair if you didn't know about them, right?

First up, WELEDA REGENERATING POMEGRANATE BODY OIL

Just buy it, your skin will thank you for it. In fact Mr P thanks me for it, although he doesn't really know the reason why my skin is both silky and juicy (??) at the same time. I suppose I mean plumped up, rather than juicy, but it gives you an idea of what this gloriously golden oil does for your skin. It's part of Weleda's anti-ageing pomegranate line but just ignore the whole ageing element of it and just go for it, even if your in your twenties. The skin on our bodies is so neglected that we all need a bit of 'regeneration' in our body care.

Apply after showering and massage it into your skin. It's not one of those dry oils, it's a proper oil although it's not too heavy and sticky and I have no problem dressing right away. My skin just glows since I've been using this and it even looks firmer. Mr P thinks  I've been working out (which I have.... massaging myself is hard work).

It smells delicately fruity and clean and doesn't interfere with perfume. 100% natural. What's not to love? I bought mine at Planet Organic for £19.99 but Weleda is sold in so many places and so many countries, it shouldn't be hard to find. It's not cheap I know, but I don't believe that there are many better things you can put on your skin.

Next, LANCOME 'IN LOVE' DEWY MIST (for Spring 2013)

The product that I've been searching for my whole make-up wearing life. I love when my make-up has been on the whole day and kind of sets into my skin and becomes one with me. This spray gives me that look as soon as I put my make-up on, even if I've used powder. I hate my skin looking 'made up', somehow it lacks the radiance that I've been craving. This is radiance in a bottle. No shimmer, no cheap tricks, just a beautiful little bottle of orange blossom scented dew that kisses the skin with health. Spritz on after you make up or later on in the day to refresh make up for that youthful fresh skin you've been hankering after. I also use it before make up and it primes the skin by softening it. My only complaint is that it's limited edition and the bottle is too small. I'm using it too generously I think, but I can't help it. It's one of the most beautiful little products I've come across in a very long time and I'm going to need a back up bottle.

It's £22 (ouch!), but so worth it. Let's call it 'Princess spray'.

Following that, another Weleda PINE REVIVING BATH MILK

Warming, cooling, refreshing, relaxing, liberating! A bath of contrasts you might say. This is the only thing I've been using in my Sunday night baths for the last month. It's so restorative and leaves the bathroom smelling like it can heal you. Mr P likes it, it's pretty unisex. Nothing nasty in here, all natural goodness. You can feel like Cleopatra in a mountain forest for all of 20 minutes. Eyeliner and headress optional.

I picked this up from Planet Organic for £10.95. I reckon you can get between 6-10 baths out of it. I'm very generous so I'm nearing my final, and 6th, bath from this bottle. If you have a smaller bath or are just more restrained than me (not hard) then you can make it last longer.

Well my lovelies, I hope you'll forgive my absence and I apologise in advance for the next few months as I will be preparing for a show and my mind will be in LaLa land. Actually on that note, I've been thinking for a while that it might be interesting to write about beauty prep and make-up for stage performance, my routine and various looks and products that I employ. What do you think?

Don't forget to let me know what products have been rocking your world recently! 

Walk like an Egyptian

Actually if you were to walk like an Egyptian at the moment you would probably need some sort of placard and an expression of angry defiance. I suppose what I want to say is bathe like an Egyptian, but that doesn't really have the same ring to it...
So where am I going with this? On my way to catch the tram most days I pass a small beauty salon specialising in treatments based on completely natural products only. It's quite an expensive place, but has that aura of health and tranquility about it as you might expect. Normally I don't take much notice of it, but today I saw a big poster in the window promoting a new treatment. The announcement went something like this (in French obviously):

The Bath of Cleopatra

A bath using real asses milk!

Excellent for treating psoriasis, eczema, healing scars, and for old people and children

I have ways of making you pretty

 Mon Dieu! How on earth could I ever justify taking an afternoon out to bathe in asses milk?? Try explaining that to the other half.  I'm not sure that I would ever need something as drastic as that, my skin being generally ok, nothing my Clarins moisture-rich body lotion won't sort out anyway.  Still, I'm so intrigued! There's one side of me (the dumb one) which imagines a palatial room with a magnificent plunge pool filled with a rose-scented milky-water, a few maidens leisurely playing the lyre whilst I step elegantly into it, letting the towel slip seductively from behind me as I immerse myself in the elixir of beauty. As I emerge, all sublimely soft and beautified, a handsome, muscular slave enrobes me in a towel and leads me to a massage bed (obviously he'd be a eunuch, just to keep Mr P happy).

And then there's the other side of me.... which to be honest has got so caught up in the Cecil B. DeMille image that I can't imagine what the reality would be. 

Thank Isis for waterproof make-up!

I suppose the sensible thing to do would be just to go in and inquire, and then I'd be able to give you all the lowdown like a proper grown-up beauty-blogger. The thing is, I know that there is a clear and present danger I'll end up being talked into making an appointment and then my Claudette Colbert dream may be ruined for ever, plus there'll probably be a huge gaping hole in my wallet where my money used to be, especially if I ask them how much they want for throwing in a slave or two.

So, if the whole milk bath thing floats your boat (sorry), then here are some alternatives to milking that donkey down at the local city farm:

Elemis Milk Bath:  a totally luxurious product which smells totally delicious and very expensive, which it is unfortunately, but you do get a whopping 400ml of the stuff and you only need to use a cap-full in the bath. I have to say that when I had a bottle of this stuff years back I used to slosh it in the bath like it was a 99p bath foam. Oh the indulgence. Leaves you feeling incredibly soft and scented like a millionairess. 

Home-made milk bath: There are so many ways of doing this and many 'recipes' to be found on the web. Here's one that I think looks good, although I'm not sure where you can find "powdered honey", am pretty sure a spoon of the regular runny kind would be just fine.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5480834_make-milk-honey-bath.html

Weleda also make lovely products, all-natural/organic, including a range of scented bath milks. I'm sure they don't actually contain milk, but if you just want a milky sort of bath rather than a bubble or oil kind then I'm sure they'll give you your hit. At under £9, they won't make your wallet wince either. 

As a last resort, and not really a bad way to go, I think that just a cup of powdered milk and a few drops of your favourite essential oil would be just as effective as the more complex recipes out there which seem to require you to get the pestle and mortar out. Pestle and mortar? For a bath? Now that's what Cleopatra had slaves for.