The queen of mineral make-up

You’d have to have been living on planet Zog for the past year to miss the fact that mineral make-up is the hottest make-up story in a l-o-n-g time. But it was Susan Posnick - who we breakfasted with recently at The Charlotte Street Hotel - who started the whole mineral hoo-ha, with her ColorFlo product. It’s awfully clever: the powder’s in the brush (which overcomes the downside of mineral make-up: it gets everywhere, as the mineral make-up counter in Selfridges proves. It gets like Pompeii down there). You simply click to prime the brush with powder (Susan claims that after the first time, you don’t even need to do that), and swirl into skin, building up flawless coverage. After breakfast with Ms. Posnick, Jo is a belated convert (Sarah meanwhile resisting the urge to say ‘I told you so…’) - she simply needed to find her perfect shade, which turns out to be M4 Light Beige. It’s even helped Jo get over her grief at the discontinuation of Giorgio Armani’s Hydra-Glow foundation.

Beauty gives back

Jo recently judged the Clarins/YOU Dynamisante Woman of the Year competition, for the seventh time. It’s open to women who’ve started a charity for children and this year’s winner - pictured here with Clarins’s charming head honcho Olivier Courtin (the son of the founder) - is Julie Perry, who has managed to build a school-and-a-half in a village on the Kenyan coast, through her charity The Indi Project (visit www.indinurseryproject.co.uk to check it out or even better, to sponsor a child). Nice to see that beauty can ‘give back’ (Julie gets a cheque for £30,000 for her charity), but also nice for us to be reminded what a fabulous summer classic Eau Dynamisante really is, with its awaken-the-senses, upliftingly citrussy notes. (We rather long for a bottle the size of the one Julie’s clutching…)

Sorry. Been in the 'Beauty Dungeon'. Back now.

The No. 1 rule of blogs is to update them on a really regular basis. Sorry, we failed. For the past two months we have been hurtling towards a deadline for Beauty Bible Beauty Steals, our review of literally thousands of the affordable high street and supermarket brands, which will appear for Christmas 2009. And we've also been writing up all the new entries for the paperback of The Green Beauty Bible, launching in September. We have emerged, blinking, into the light. Our skins are beginning to turn from pastry-pale to sun-kissed golden. We have a life again. And a blog.

Just say ‘spa-a-a-a-ah’ (in Barbados)

Jo here. Now, there are some very good reasons to disappear in the middle of a chilly spring, at the end of an interminable winter, and head for Barbados (in a carbon off-set way, of course), but now there’s another: the brand new spa at the Coral Reef Club, which literally just opened. I peeled myself off my sun lounger for long enough to enjoy a truly world-class massage in the most spectacular setting. Karen Capaldi (her family own Coral Reef) has spared no expense on the décor: a cool, tranquil garden in which to chill, hydrotherapy pool, shaded recliners, and ultra-luxe treatment rooms as chic as any boutique hotel bedroom. The squishy towel factor’s off the scale – but what really impressed me is that the luxe factor’s matched by the talents of the therapists themselves (most also study Reiki or reflexology). I had an utterly heavenly, skin-replenishing 80-minute Swedish massage which (if I hadn’t already been in Paradise) would have wafted me there, for sure. (I had frankly all but given up having massages by beauty therapists – having had one too many lackadaisical treatments in salons - but Coral Reef Spa’s team have all been super-highly-trained and are worth every Bajan cent.) Pedicures and manicures are enjoyed (see photo) in a first-floor suite overlooking the gardens, while each treatment room is enclosed by its own private tropical garden. I frankly cannot wait to go back (and there, alas, are too few spas I feel that way about…)

Ssssshhh - Liz Earle has a secret...

Well, lots of secrets - and they’re all in her new book (already a major bestseller!) As Liz’s old, old (but not old-looking!) friends we were of course there to raise a glass of champagne with her at the Liz Earle Naturally Active flagship store at Duke of York’s Square in Chelsea. (Do go. It’s beautiful. And the facials are swoonworthy.) Seen here: a smiling Liz, with her business partner and friend Kim Buckland - and Kyle Cathie, who is our (and Liz’s) publisher. If you love the skincare, the book is a must-read - and for our April Beauty Bible site update, we’re thrilled to have 10 signed copies to give away. Meanwhile, if you want a ‘taster’ of her secrets? We like this one: ‘I’ve heard several women say that their previously large pores have closed, over time, with the application of clay-based masks,’ explains Liz (whose pores are as perfect as the rest of her) on p. 129.

Discovering fragrance with Roja Dove

You’d have to be a beauty hermit not to have heard of Roja Dove. Does anyone in the world know more about fragrance? Probably not, which is why beauty editors hang on his every pearl of perfume wisdom. So: to breakfast at The Wolseley, to hear about the new website he’s worked on for World Duty Free: www.discoverfragrance.co.uk. The idea: it helps you choose an addition to your ‘fragrance wardrobe’ appropriate to your travel destination. (Currently, mostly cities – from Marrakech to Cape Town, Paris to Rome – but holiday hot-spots being added soon.) He’s spot-on: a fragrance that you love to wear to dinner here might be too crisp for a naughty weekend away, or too heavy or cloying for a business meeting. (In Japan, a spritz of Opium or Shalimar is actually an insult to their traditionally fragrance-less culture.) The site’s simple but clever. Give it a go. At the very least, it’ll explain in a bit more depth – thanks to Roja’s expert insights – about some fragrances you may not know, and at best, you may find a new perfume ‘love’. (Which they hope you’ll pick up in World Duty Free next time you’re heading for a foreign metropolis.) Of course, Beauty Bible couldn’t resist asking Roja for his best-ever fragrance tip, before we parted company. He took a few more sips of his frothy Wolseley cappuccino, and declared: ‘Never judge a fragrance by its bottle.’ Another pearl. Thanks, Roja. (Because he’s right about that, too.)

Organic beauty finalists

To Bristol (the Soil Association’s offices) - the third time we’ve been asked to judge the annual Soil Association Organic Beauty Awards. Pictured here: Sarah, with SA’s Feona Horrex, after a slather-a-thon during which we both tried literally dozens of contenders (including - wait for it - an intimate lubricant! Which actually made it to the shortlist because it’s so innovative, and such a change from the highly chemical options out there.) Once we’d whittled down the contenders to 14 - including Jigsaw’s delectable Hand Lotion, Essential Care’s soon-to-be-launched coconut body scrub (like a Bounty bar in a tub) and facialist Lucy Russell’s sublime rosewater spray - the products are to be put through their paces, Beauty Bible-style, on three teams of 10 panellists recruited via the Soil Association offices. (Including one team of mums - and babes - to judge the baby category). We’re as anxious to hear the results as any organic beauty-hound out there - and will e-mail you all with news of the winners on Monday 6th April, after the awards are given out at the Natural Products Show gala dinner. Watch this (organic) space.