Rendez-Vous with Bourjois

Bourjois’s little round pot blushers have been dotted prettily onto cheeks since 1863. Women still love them. (Not least testers for our next book, Beauty Steals, in which both the blusher pots and eyeshadow pots star.) But have they ever been quite this covetable before? Over cappuccino with Bourjois’s Lesley Chilvers (yes, in this job your liquid intake goes right off the caffeine-o-meter), she unveiled these limited edition versions daintily decorated with whimsical illustrations by Natalie Lété, a renowned Parisian illustrator. The Rendez-Vous a Paris collection will be at www.asos.com - and at Beauty Bible, where (we’re chuffed to announce), we’ll have 10 sets exclusively for ‘insiders’ like you to win. Watch this (pink) space.

Go ape for Trilogy

We’re all for beauty giving back. So: nice to hear (when catching up with Trilogy founder Sarah Gibbs over a coffee éclair) that the New Zealand-based beauty brand is getting firmly behind the campaign to save Borneo’s orangutans, many of which are being displaced by rampant palm oil development, and either killed or imprisoned in cages. (The palm oil is often used by the cosmetics industry.) It seems incredible that this extraordinary animal is truly at risk of extinction, but it’s really happening. So: special packs of Trilogy’s certified 100% rosehip oil will soon go on sale from which a chunky $1 donation will go to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. Look out for the boxes, which feature the cutest baby orangutan ever to grace a cosmetic bottle. (Actually, he or she is very adorable indeed.) For more info, visit www.trilogyproducts.com. Oh, and by the way: three Trilogy products – Cream Cleanser, Eye Contour Cream and the utterly fab Botanical Body Wash – are Green Beauty Bible Award-winners, celebrated in the new paperback edition of our book, just hitting the bookshops now. (Would have been sooner but there was a strike at the printer - grrrrrr!) So: three cheers for Trilogy!

Green with envy...

Beauty Bible has never quite experienced a phenomenon like Chanel's Jade nail polish. To wit: when Jo went along for a manicure yesterday with Sophy Robson (the nail 'superstar Jo actually 'discovered' at New York Nails nine years ago), who could have imagined the effect it would have on perfect strangers - who stopped her in the street to say, 'Omigod is that Chanel Jade?', with a sort-of-scratch-your-eyes-out expression...! With its just-like-a-piece-of-jade colour, the varnish has a waiting list as long as your arm (at Chanel boutiques and Selfridges' counter). Jo is modelling Jade here together with a 'hand ring' (er, obviously for Chanel devotees who don't have to stoop to typing for a living), from this season's gorgeous, white-ruffled Chanel fashion collection. (Lust doesn't begin to describe our feeling for the clothes - which will alas remain unrequited...) What especially thrills Jo, though, are the truly, exclusive, not-available-to-the-public tiny double-C gold logos which Sophy embedded in Jo's littlest fingernails - and which she is SO going to be carefully rescuing and reusing!

Beauty Bible Blogtip - from Sophy Robson (pictured here peeking through the mannequins): 'If you want to strengthen your nails, use a nail hardener for no more than a week, then stop, otherwise they just become brittle. But most importantly make a habit of massaging oil into your nails twice a day - not just while using the hardener, but always: keep a bottle somewhere handy - on your desk or on your bedside table - and massage it into your nail zone morning and night. It only takes a minute yet not only stops cuticles splitting and hangnails; it also penetrates the nails to stop them dehydrating, flaking and splitting.'

Paint ‘em, cowgirl!

There is the minimalist spa trend. And there is the Oriental spa trend. So it’s a breath of fresh (farmyard?) air to see Cowshed Carnaby’s interior décor. Basically, if E. Annie Prouxl decorated a beauty salon we think it would look like this – but actually, the ‘Brokeback Spa Chic’ works: the barn-plank walls, distressed paintwork and ‘nail polish crates’ contrast with squishy towels, inviting massage couches and super-comfy manicure stations (as demo-ed by über-groomed Cowshed PR Jo Fox-Tutchener, here - who we doubt owns a pair of dungarees…) Cleverly, the seven-day-a-week treatment menu for the range (which follows in the footsteps of the original Cowshed Spa at Babington House) features lots of super-speedy options including what they promise is ‘painless waxing’ by Amie Jones, as well as the chance to have two therapists work on you multi-taskingly at once. Ideal for when a girl’s gotta get back to watchin’ them cows, real quick. (Or, rather more mundanely, her computer screen.)

Cowshed Carnaby, 31 Fouberts Place, London W1D 7QG/020-7534 0870

Beauty Bible Blogtip - picked up from Cowshed's nail pros: ‘Keep a manicure perfect by adding a topcoat every other day - but use the topcoat to “seal the tips”, don’t just paint the top of the nail. And for super-smooth results, always apply two coats of base to toenails…’

Lipstick limos!

Well, taxis, actually. But London beauty-hounds can scan the capital’s streets for two white cabs emblazoned with luscious lipsticks, to coincide with the opening of Clinique’s snazzy new department in the revamped Selfridges Beauty Hall (for more news, watch this space). What are you supposed to give the driver when you disembark – a beauty tip…?

The faceless facialist

These hands are insured for a million quid. We wish we could show you the pretty face attached to them, but Tracey Malone is very, very camera-shy. Like it or not, though, Tracey Malone - daughter of the legendary Eileen (who it’s whispered used to do facials for the Queen) and sister of global fragrance-empire-builder Jo – is steppinginto the spotlight with Lubatti, the range she has created using formulas handed down by one of the most famous beauticians of all time, Madame Lubatti, to Eileen. (Who then handed them to Tracey.) Lubatti is at Space NK (more than 40 branches, and on-line at www.lubatti.co.uk, where there’s a fab gift-wrapping service.). We say: well worth checking out (we especially like the Day & Night Face Gel, as used by Tracey for her amazing, re-contouring facial massage – enjoyed by an ultra-elite clientele which for one blissful hour included a grateful Jo). Tracey’s own skin (which alas you can’t see here!) is a great advert for Lubatti – but she glugs gallons (well, litres) of water, too, she adds. ‘It really does boost skin health,’ maintains Tracey. However, she warns: ‘If you’re not a water-drinker, don’t go mad. Add in an extra half-a-glass each day, because going straight from zero to the regulation eight glasses stresses the kidneys.’ Another tip? Tracey dilutes pomegranate juice – one third juice to two-thirds water - for an extra antioxidant boost. ‘And it’s less boring to drink!’

Happy feet (continued)

Oh, lucky us. And lucky you, when you can get your hands (feet?) on the new FitFlop winter boots. We are feeling incredibly privileged that the genius Marcia Kilgore (of FitFlops and Soap & Glory glory) let us have the first two pairs to be released into captivity. (We are rather hoping they breed in the wardrobe. However, this is unlikely, as they are unlikely to be removed from our feet now till around next April.) You can find them on pre-order at Victoria Health now (www.victoriahealth.com), where you can be one very toasty step ahead of the the rest of the FitFlop pack. Cold? Wind? Snow? Our little piggies say: 'Bring it on!'