In late June, skincare brand La Roche-Posay are launching something quite brilliant, especially if you’ve always been interested to know just how much UV exposure your skin is getting. (I realise that’s quite a niche interest, but there are lots of skin and beauty obsessives here so it’s not too far-fetched!) Being an annoyingly cynical…
There are perhaps a couple of familiar things in this month’s favourites video; the l’Oreal Revitalift SPF25 is a new discovery and the review very recent, so probably still fresh in your minds, and the Hylamide Glow, a liquid face serum that imparts the most gradual of gradual tans, was a firm favourite at the end of summer last year. I…
I think you’ll agree that the below “before and after” photographs are pretty epic: no light or computer trickery has been used. (I don’t ever retouch my images, by the way – or Facetune or whatever people use to whiten their teeth and get rid of wrinkles and spots!) What you see is what you get. La…
I’ve been using the same four skincare products, more or less, for the past twelve weeks. Out of necessity rather than choice, really, because I’ve had to whittle down my product arsenal to the absolute bare minimum, but that’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed using them. In fact they’ve worked brilliantly well for…
I managed to film a video! That’s something of a milestone for me, because although it has only been six weeks since Baby AMR arrived, I’ve felt a bit like my previous life was completely lost to me and I’d never again have the time to do anything other than sleep, change nappies and take…
My designated body parts for testing out dry skin creams are my shins. Without proper care, they go scaly and shiny and weird, and if I wear tights or jeans then the problem escalates and I might even get some itchiness. The latest thick, balm-like body creams for dry skin that meet my approval are…
Some summer beauty products for you. I’ve done loads of these posts as I got a bit carried away doing still life photographs! In this one there’s a brilliant body moisturiser, a couple of very lightweight face hydrators and some other bits and bobs that have grabbed my interest. Can you tell that I’ve become…
Just a quickie, today, because I have recently discovered the television series Game of Thrones and the sofa beckons! Goodness me is Game of Thrones saucy – how has it taken me so long to get around to watching it? I thought that it was going to be a bit like Lord of the Rings which, quite frankly, bored me to…
I’m clearing out my beauty room before house renovations begin (don’t even ask why I’m going ahead with building work when I’m having a baby in four-months-and-one-week’s time!) and I keep discovering very interesting little boxes filled with skincare for various budgets. The one that most grabbed my attention was the “affordable skin care” box; bits and pieces…
I thought I’d just slip in a quick favourites video before I start on the Christmas Gift Guides; this month I’ve focused on skincare because my skin has been so up and down! Flaky red patches, a few mammoth spots that could only be described accurately as boils and a weird oiliness on my nose…
Lengthiest post in the world alert. Do you remember when I recruited some skin care guinea pigs to test out the new Effaclar Anti-Blemish System*? Way back when the sun was shining and we weren’t being relentlessly pelted with hailstones and cold rain? Well the results are in. Overall, the response is great. I have to say…
Monthly favourites are here again – the weeks are just hurtling by, aren’t they? Before we know it, it’ll be the C-word! (Christmas.) It’s quite a sharp and to-the-point beauty edit, this month, partly because for half of it I was testing out the Genifique serum and therefore slightly restricted, skincare-wise; but mostly because I’ve been incredibly…
A much-requested video; half the world now seems to be obsessed with the mysterious delights that are kept locked up in the legendary French Pharmacie. I don’t tend to go pharmacy shopping as much as I used to, and that is mainly because the things that I used to stock up on are now widely available….
I’ve never been a huge advocate of toners; most that I tried in my teens and early twenties left my face so dry and stripped that my skin would be completely knocked out of balance. I think that there was a real trend, then especially, for “cleanser and toner duos”; you’d cleanse with a lotion…
Some holiday (or pre-holiday) skincare essentials. The VO5 Hot Oil is a bit of an anomaly because it’s for your hair and not for your face, but it was orange and summery and looked good in my photographs! Hot Oil is one of those beauty products that seems very old fashioned, now, because it’s been around for such a long…
**UPDATE: chosen testers are Harry (h.nortonshaw), frances.barcelos, bethanrabjohns, dianalloyd5 and Andrea Lutton. Thanks to everyone who left a comment, I wish I had hundreds of these sets. (I’m working on it!) Testers; you’ll receive an email shortly from La Roche-Posay. La Roche-Posay’s Effaclar Duo was an absolute skin-saver for me when I had my bout of adult…
Sunscreen formulas have been getting progressively lighter and more comfortable to wear. It’s true that some of the higher factor versions do still leave a bit of a white cast on the skin, but most are sheer and fast to disappear after application. The four sunscreens in the photograph above all impressed me in terms of finish…
The summer always takes me by surprise. God only knows how, because I wait for it with every fibre of my being! But the British weather being unpredictable as it is, you get lulled into a kind of ambivalence and then, when the sun finally comes out in full force, you find that you haven’t…