Chanel is hosting a nails event in Arnotts from Thursday, March 29th until Sunday, April 1st – with appointments available for a Chanel shape and paint using the Les Jeans de Chanel range. The price is €40, fully redeemable against Chanel nail products. To book, call 01-8050537.
Now here’s a competition worth getting in there for – worth €190, the lovely folks at Make Up For Ever on Clarendon St have offered me a mother-daughter make-up lesson and makeover for Fash Mob readers! You’ll both be treated to a glass of champagne at the Make Up For Ever HQ in Dublin 2 before your hour-and-a-half lesson begins, tailored to your needs – so, suitable for novices or absolute pros.
To enter, head on over to the Make Up For Ever Facebook page and like it (you obviously already like Fash Mob). Then come back here and leave a comment telling me your funniest mammy memory – everyone’s got one! If you tweet / share the competition, you will make me happy and I will be more likely to let you win. Simple!
The competition closes at midnight on Mother’s Day, March 18th (tomorrow). One entry per person. Good luck!
This foundation came complete with a primer and a brush for application*, with stern warnings that the use of the brush in conjunction with the make-up was critical! All advice I happily ignored. I jettisoned make-up brushes and sponges years ago on the basis they simply absorb half of your overpriced product anyway.
Applied with fingers, this foundation worked quite well. It’s super light and gives off a natural pinky hue. In truth, it’s probably suited to eh . . . more nubile skin. It works the au naturel look very well, though my old-lady skin is probably in the market for something au industriel. Verdict: good, a bit thin for coverage.
Then, purely for review purposes, I applied the same make-up with the brush, and lo – dramatic transformation. Coverage this time was excellent, probably reducing the amount required by a third. Verdict: Made for a much more sculpted, and very natural look.
The primer doesn’t float my boat. Probably evens out skin tone and closes pores, but give me Beauty Flash Balm or Laura Mercier any day for that just-f**ked look. However, the brush effect has certainly made me think twice about using this technique in future.
* I was given a sample kit to try; my tester would prefer to remain anonymous.
Now here’s an offer worth getting out of bed for – No7′s Protect & Perfect Intense Face Collection is on special offer until March 30th, at €42 instead of the usual price of €88. And do you want to talk about bang for your buck? That’s a Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum 30ml, Protect & Perfect Intense Day Cream 50ml and a Protect & Perfect Intense Night Cream 50ml – for €42.
They’re selling this as a Mother’s Day gift idea but, really, I’ll be going in to get this for myself. My mother can make do with €20 flowers from Tesco.
I’ve written about Dermablend before, when they released that amazing video with Zombie Boy, but it never occurred to me that it would be a foundation I would particularly like. I have good skin (if I say so myself) with nothing that really needs concealment, bar the odd patch of redness or the occasional blemish, and for daywear I like to wear MAC Face & Body which is one of the lightest coverage foundations out there – so the likelihood of my going for Dermablend‘s ultimate coverage foundation seemed slim, to say the least.
But I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth – so when Vichy sent me a tube of Dermablend to try out, I thought, what’s the worst that can happen? By some miracle, the sample they sent out – which is no 25, Nude – was almost the exact match for my skin (it’s a little bit darker, but nothing that a bit of bronzer on the neck doesn’t fix) and so I found that I could give it a good week’s trial with no one being too much the wiser. Except for, oh yeah, the fact that this make-up is amazing. Honestly – I put this on in the morning and instantly my skin is smoother, clearer, more even, and it lasts all day long.
See this picture?
That is, quite literally, the difference it makes. It’s astonishing; I feel so much more made up with it on, and while other foundations fade and rub off during the day, this really doesn’t – although I’ll admit I haven’t tested the 16-hour claims. It’s replaced my Estee Lauder Double Wear as my going-out make-up of choice, and when I’m on television there really is no comparison. What’s more, it feels really silky on my skin and not heavy and cloying like some heavy-duty foundations tend to.
The only downside I’ve found is that, through prolonged wear, it can really dry out my skin – and my skin is oily to begin with. So if I wear this for three or four days, you can bet I have serious dry patches by the end. I can imagine for those of you with dry skin, this would start to show up a little sooner, so it’s worth bearing in mind.
I don’t believe that anyone really needs a super heavy-duty foundation for everyday wear, but for the occasional bit of extra making-up, Dermablend definitely does it for me.
Does this sound like something you’d like to try? It’s available from most pharmacies and priced at €21, which is less than you’ll pay for most high-end brands. The only catch is that it comes in but five shades, so you might be lucky – or, more likely, you might be unlucky … Let me know how you get on!
Well it’s no exaggeration to say that London Fashion Week really knocked the stuffing out of me – I returned tired and emotional and seriously, seriously footsore. So when I put out a shout-out on Twitter asking for recommendations for pedicures, it was serious: where could I go that would beat my feet back into shape and leave me feeling relaxed and, crucially, rejuvenated?
There were a few places recommended but nowhere more than Mink in Ballsbridge – and when the lovely Kate then messaged me to say she could book me in over Twitter, well, I was sold – no fuss, no muss! I hopped over on Saturday morning, flip-flops in tow, to experience what everyone was raving about – and I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed.
My pedicure was a 75-minute treat (although, word from the wise: wear leggings or very loose jeans. I did neither and was so sorry!) that involved your usual pedicure business – foot filing, cuticle trimming, file and polish – as well as a luxurious scrub and oh-so-relaxing massage. I’m a bit tickly in the feet, so I did find it tough to relax until the massage segment of the treatment, which had me almost floating off into an afternoon nap.
And the mini manicure was brilliant – it involved a cuticle trim, file and polish (and poor Lin had to deal with removing my Shellac) and my nails looked better than ever afterwards, and still hadn’t chipped four days later.
The milk and honey pedicure takes 75 minutes and costs €60; the mini manicure takes 30 minutes and costs €25. Mine was on the house, but I paid for my pedicure.
Facials are meant to make you look and feel like a million dollars – without actually costing a million dollars. While the latest facial favoured by the rich and famous might cost a pretty penny, your face will thank you for it.
With fans including Helena Christianson, Uma Thurman and others, NUDE is a natural and ethical skincare line founded by Ali Hewson and Bryan Meehan.
With active ingredients sourced from milk, NUDE is “98% natural and chemical-free” (wonder what could possibly be in the 2%), and claims to correct the signs of aging.
While the skincare range is available worldwide (240 locations and counting), the NUDE facial is only available in Ireland at Veda’s Beauty Clinic in Dún Laoghaire.
The NUDE Recontouring Facial is an incredibly relaxing (yes, we fell asleep) 60-minute procedure, combining cleansing, deep tissue massage and micro-facial contouring. If your face could do with an extra pick-me-up, the beautician can apply a vibration technique to further boost circulation and give you an added lift.
Created for all skin types, it worked well on my combination skin, which manages to have incredibly dry and incredibly oily patches. The Cleansing Facial Oil in particular was gentle enough for the more sensitive spots, while the Miracle Mask ‑ which was allowed to sit on the skin for around 10 minutes, covered by a heated towel while I received a neck, hand and arm massage – really hydrated the dry areas.
I left all a-glow with a brighter, even complexion. The results could be seen for at least 10 days after the treatment. Definitely recommended.
NUDE Recontouring Facial, €125, 60 minutes
Veda’s Beauty Clinic, 19 Lower Georges Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin Tel: 01-214 0222 | Email : info@vedasbeauty.ie
I sent a guest poster who wished to remain anonymous to review this treatment.
Today I went to have a facial in Kiehl’s store on Wicklow Street. This brand has been around since 1851, so they really know what they’re talking about! I went in and had a talk about my skin with Lydia, who did my facial. She told me a bit about the brand itself and asked me about my skin concerns. She then showed me the products that she was going to use.
Image via Alexandra Donald
It was all really relaxing. She started off by cleansing my skin, using the Ultra Facial Cleanser. She gave me a massage for about 15 minutes, which was really nice. After that she used the Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub and left that on while I got a hand massage. To finish off, she used the Ultra Facial Toner and Ultra Facial Cream. She also put on Ultra Light Daily Moisturizer SPF 50 and Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado.
At the end my skin felt really smooth and soft and I was really calm and relaxed. I would definitely get this facial done again.
Rosemary’s note: Hannah came back to the office after her facial positively glowing and looking immensely blissed out, which totally sold the facial to me, even before reading her review!
This week, I took a trip to Bath with Procter & Gamble for a look at their new offerings – more on which later, I swear – and, while there, stayed in Babington House, the sister hotel to Soho House with a Cowshed spa on site. Serious luxury! Along with everything else, I fell in love with the Cowshed products that were everywhere in the hotel.
Wild Cow is the invigorating arm of the range – a range that concentrates on natural, honest and therapeutic products – containing lemongrass, ginger and rosemary. You can grab a bath & shower gel (which, I’ll tell you from experience, creates a glorious bubble bath that relaxes into an almost bath oil texture), bath and massage oil, body lotion, soap and travel candles.
Cowshed products are available from pharmacies and health food stores nationwide. Are you a fan?
Do you use anti-ageing products? I’ll admit to being a bit lax about it – after all, I am only 26 (for four more days!) – but it’s something I’ve definitely been thinking about more of late, especially as I get treated to all of these products launches and exhibitions that tell me just how important it is to look out for my skin!
Nutriganics from The Body Shop is a concentrate that can be added to your existing moisturiser or serum and acts by enhancing surface cell renewal, the process by which your skin replaces dead cells with new, young ones. Sounds good, right? Nutriganics contains plant stem cells harvested from criste-marine, which grows on the Britanny coastline; extract of beech bud and Community Fair Trade organic babassu oil.
More impressively, 87 per cent of users reported an improvement in skin softness after four weeks of using Nutriganics. What do you think, would you be sold? (It’s €37.50, on which point.)
Personally, I’m sticking with my current Neostrata regime, which I supplement every now and again with Origins, and when my Neostrata runs out I’m going to move on to Lush cleansers and Clarins moisturiser and report back!
