Selfridges Summer Beauty Box

Well, you have to admit that Selfridges give good beauty box!

Selfridges Summer Beauty Box Open

This goes live today (HERE) and inside it contains:

- Aqua Splash Tangle Teezer
-        Models Own Neon Nail Varnish
-        Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray 50ml
-        Molton Brown Aqua Shower Gel 100ml
-        Caudalie Beauty Elixir 30ml
-        St. Tropez Instant Glow Face Lotion 50ml
-        Jane Tran Hair Clips
-        Erborian BB Cream 12ml
-        Lancaster After Sun 40ml
-        St. Tropez The Ultimate Tan

The value adds up to £70 but the cost is £25. I think they’ve got the beach beauty theme spot on (even though I’ve always wondered who actually buys Surf Spray!) and I really love the little hair clips. So, as usual, it’s very limited so if you want to buy it go quickly.

Paul & Joe 2013 La Belle Epoque Swatch

As it turns out, the real thing is even better than the lovely pictures I posted yesterday. I’m besotted.

Paul & Joe 2013 La Belle Epoque Swatch

Even after you’ve used the make-up (and actually they are tiny amounts so it’s not unrealistic to think you can finish it all up) you have the sweetest little box to keep.

Paul & Joe 2013 La Belle Epoque Swatch 

But, to the make up. This is easily my favourite colour-way because of the violet eye sheen.

Paul & Joe 2013 La Belle Epoque Swatch

It goes perfectly with the slightly steely grey shade that’s almost a flat shade – the tiniest bit of shimmer.

Paul & Joe 2013 La Belle Epoque Swatch

The shimmer is a vanilla shade – and ultra-ultra shimmery! Fairy dust indeed.

Clinique Autumn 2013

There’s a big focus on eyes ahead for Clinique – a revamp of their existing eye shades, All About Shadow,  to bump up the pigment and payoff with extra long-wear benefits. A range of new shades look awesome (will swatch tomorrow) and include Nudes, Goldens & Greens, Pinks, Blues and Violets. Let me at the violet! Again, not too far away with a counter date of August.

Tria Home Laser Hair Removal

So, I’ve made it look a bit friendlier! Less alien. Because this new version IS much friendlier than the old version.

Tria Home Laser Hair Removal

For a start, the older version had a tiny wait time between ‘flashing’ the laser which really slowed things up – if you’re doing a larger area such as upper leg then that really matters. With the 4X, there is no wait so you literally just zip along, zapping away until you’ve done the area you want to treat.

Tria Home Laser Hair Removal

There are five settings to set the intensity (to be honest, I’m pretty sure everyone will go straight to five so they really might as well have only one or two). I set mine to five – the strongest – and it was perfectly tolerable. As the laser flashes you get a little wave of heat that doesn’t even go to a sting.. it’s really very gentle, considering. You can actually track the number of pulses you use in any one go, but I didn’t do that – it just seemed a little confusing, somehow.

Tria Home Laser Hair Removal

This is the laser window, so you can see that large areas are going to take a while – it’s a small window. But, for underarms or bikini, it’s a piece of cake. I imagine an underarm would take ten minutes maximum, while you’d expect a whole leg to take the best part of an hour I think.  If you wonder how this can work, I’m no scientist, but basically, diode laser light beams penetrate the skin to the follicles. The laser targets the hair pigment (it absorbs the heat) and disrupts the follicle to the point that it stops re-growth.

It’s a serious outlay at £345 but you the fact that you can use it on face and body is such a plus that I’d say that its a very serious competitor to salon treatments both on efficiency and money. Home lasering does work.. I’ve seen some spectacular results, but you must be dedicated in treating the areas properly and over the suggested time scale. Tria say that you’ll start to see results after two sessions at two-weekly intervals, so within a month (Tria say that 70% less hair grows back after two treatments).

The only thing I’m not so convinced of is the gel that you use between the skin and the laser – the Tria Gel Moisturiser is £25 and given that this new model is really quick and efficient I am not sure that you really, truly need one at all. To be safe though, I’d recommend you use it as instructed (I didn’t use mine!).

The site is HERE and features a skin shade chart that you must complete to see if you are suitable – it’s not suitable for very dark skin or very light hair.

Trilogy Rosehip Travel Set

Trilogy is such a great brand – it’s among some of the loveliest skin care I know of and if you haven’t tried it yet, this travel set is a great introduction to their best selling Rosehip range. I’ve used the Rosehip Facial Oil and it’s truly beautiful. This is a well edited little set for £20, with Rosehip Facial Oil, Vital Moisturising Cream, Cream Cleanser and Hydrating Mist Toner – perfect for trying a new range while on holiday. I reckon there is at least a couple of week’s worth in the box and because of its antioxidant properties is a good one for use after the sun.

It’s not quite up on the Trilogy site yet, but the site is HERE so you can check back.

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 La Belle Epoque

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 La Belle Epoque

Umm.. just how pretty are these beautiful eye sets from Paul & Joe for A/W13? I’m obsessed already. Funnily enough, this morning I was feeling a bit gloomy because I thought I hadn’t any decent colour stories for today and then this!

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 Fairytale

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 Fairytale

The story of the range focusses on fairy tales, whimsy and childhood.

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 Princess

Paul & Joe Beaute A/W13 Princess

These eye sets are really all about sparkle which isn’t a favourite thing of mine but I’ve found the exception to my own rule, here! Each little box contains Cream Eye Colour, an Eye Colour and an Eye Colour Powder so you can mix and match the shades.. kind of snow queen, icy princess style.

For the lipstick collection, it’s mix and match – choose the outer casing you like best to go with the colour you like best.

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Far, Far Away

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Far, Far Away

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Happily Ever After

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Happily Ever After

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Once Upon A Time

Paul & Joe Beaute 2013 Lip in Once Upon A Time

And however early you might think this is, the whole lot goes on sale on 1st August! I will have some swatches for you tomorrow.

Skin Art Temporary Tattoos

I love temporary tattoos – I’ve never been brave enough to go for the real thing but I do use temps quite often in summer. I don’t really get the lion-on-finger thing a la Cara – but these dandelions look so sweet – (they’re in the Skin Art I’m A Dreamer set) I’d be tempted to use on my hand I think or the writing on the inner side of fingers. They’re commitment free best of all and cost £4.99 HERE.

CND Vinylux

I am so excited about Vinylux, the gel/polish hybrid that promises a week of wear with no UV curing – it cures in the natural light for extended wear coverage.

CND Vinylux

I’ve opted for this hot coral shade, Lobster Roll. You don’t need to use a base coat – the colour goes straight onto the nail and you should use two coats. Then, a thicker top coat (in the black bottle above) goes over to give the gel like finish and keep the colour locked to the nail. Within the top coat are photo initiators to set the top coat (which makes me wonder if you are better applying in the day than the night – I have no idea whether the more light, the stronger the coat, or if it’s just any light that will do). I found the application really easy although be generous with your coats – I could have done with a third coat really for that very solid look and next time I will go to three. It’s easier to move around the nail if there is plenty of it. The finish is immaculate. The top coat is quite thick and again, be generous with portions – I’ve found with this that it starts super glossy, dies back a bit, but you can actually polish it up (on my jeans in my case!) to super gloss again.

Anyway, another useful fact I’ve learned with Vinylux is that these weeny mini-bottles are known in the nail trade as ‘pinkies’. I think that’s cute.

Vinylux launched at the beginning of the month, and I’ll be posting in a week’s time to see how it fared over the week.

Opale Light

I love it when a product turns your expectations upside down! This is exactly what happened here. I was expecting a horrendous over-glittered, thin oil but what I got was a light, instantly skin compatible oil that smells beyond holidays! More like the most expensive tropical holiday you’ve ever had. The base oil is macadamia and the glitter particles, far from being concentrated are just mere twinkles on the skin.

Of course, nothing comes without a problem.. now I can’t find a stockist for it. I was expecting to find it on http://abeautifulworld.co.uk/ but it’s not there. If it does pop up, it’s well worth getting.

BB Creams Erborian Clarins Guerlain

So, I’ve selected a random three, not least because people keep asking me about the tone of the Clarins BB so it’s good to have something to show against it.

BB Creams Swatch

First is Erborian, an original Korean BB and a goodie with ginseng in it.. I can’t resist the packaging that calls it ‘baby-skin’ effect (they already have a CC out). So, the texture is good.. not too drying; it comes in three shades; gold, light and one I can’t really work out because it doesn’t come with a shade name. It’s got SPF25. The middle one, tellingly, is Clarins Skin Perfecting BB Cream – and this is the darkest of the three, but even then, it’s dark, but texturally, I prefer it out of all of them. It has SPF 25. Finally, the last is Guerlain Lingerie de Peau BB Beauty Booster in Light and although this is suitable for very fair skins which I think aren’t well catered for in the BB market, the consistency is kind of thin (impressively thin for an SPF30 though) and it’s very light in texture on the skin.

I just thought it was interesting to put a few up side by side to see the incredible variation in BBs – no wonder we’re all a bit confused by them! From my perspective, the best of the three is Erborian – it just seems to be the one that has everything a BB should have.